


Moving In

by louicorn



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-05
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-06 23:09:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/424260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louicorn/pseuds/louicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brittany and Santana have the same problem: the girl next door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Move

"Let's just get this over with," Brittany sighed to Quinn.

Quinn nodded vigorously as she followed their real estate agent into yet another apartment building in New York City. Apartment hunting, as exciting as it sounded, was hot and tiring. It didn't help that the summer sun was blasting in the sky.

Brittany was flushed red from the heat, her blonde hair sticking to her neck, but she had given up caring about her appearance about three apartment buildings ago.

Likewise, Quinn's cheeks burned red and sweat dripped down her forehead. It was gross, but it was worth it. As long as Quinn could remember, Brittany and she had dreamt of moving into the city, and the time was finally here. Having graduated from college back in Lima, Ohio, they had their whole futures ahead of them—a blank canvas just waiting to be filled with the most vibrant colors and the most wonderful drawings.

"Brittany," Quinn said, "let's go."

Brittany stared at the endless flight of stairs and groaned. _Here we go again._

Their real estate agent flashed them a rigid smile and led the way.

Taking a deep breath, Brittany lugged her heavy legs behind Quinn who skipped up the steps daintily and somehow managed to maintain her cool poise despite the heat. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, they reached their floor.

"Here we are," the agent said, slipping her key into the knob.

Brittany looked around. It was an old apartment, but she liked it—it had character. The brick walls, the chipped paint, and every dent on the steps of the staircase told a story. Even though the sun was still as bright as ever, the dark colors inside the building made the place dim and cool. _Thank God_ , Brittany thought.

Just as the agent finally opened the lock and pushed the dark green door open, Brittany heard the gentle footsteps of someone else coming up the stairs. She turned toward the source of the sound and unknowingly stared. The woman walking up the stairs was pretty, very pretty—no, beautiful. She had perfect tan skin and flowing black hair. Her eyes twinkled and her lips curled naturally into a knowing smirk. When she noticed Brittany's gaze, she smiled at her, albeit a little confusedly.

Seeing the woman's lips shift, Brittany realized that she had been staring and quickly flicked her eyes away—way too conspicuously. Brittany thought she might have heard a quiet chuckle.

The woman reached the floor they were on and made her way to the apartment right next to the one they were looking at. Brittany peeked at the woman again who met her eyes immediately. Catching Brittany staring again, the woman smirked this time and winked at Brittany playfully. Then, she unlocked her door and slipped in, bringing her bags of groceries with her and smiling as she clicked her door closed.

"Brittany!" Quinn called, nudging Brittany out of her daze. "C'mon," she said, gesturing at the apartment before them with her eyes, "let's go look at the apartment."

"Right," Brittany managed to say as she dumbly stumbled into the apartment.

Quinn scoffed.

"What?" Brittany asked, turning around to look at Quinn.

Quinn shrugged.

Narrowing her eyes, Brittany turned back to listen to their agent explain why _this_ apartment was _really_ the one for the fifth time.

* * *

"Thanks so much," Quinn drawled with a beaming smile. She extended her hand to the agent who shook it firmly.

Brittany shook the woman's hand as well. "Thanks," she said, smiling politely.

Together, the two blondes left the real estate agent's office and made their way to the elevators. Quinn hit the down button silently. After several seconds of waiting, Brittany spoke up. "That last apartment was pretty nice, wasn't it?"

"It was okay," Quinn said with a shrug.

"Really? I liked it," Brittany explained.

The elevator doors opened, and the two of them entered.

Since Quinn remained silent, Brittany spoke again. "I thought the apartment really had character, you know?"

Quinn smiled sweetly at Brittany—too sweetly.

"Quinn," Brittany said unsurely, "what is up with you?"

Quinn grinned. "Nothing."

Brittany squinted her eyes. "Quinn."

"What?"

Brittany raised her eyebrows, as if to say, "Spill."

Quinn sighed. "Do you like the apartment because it has character, or do you like it because of a particular character residing there?"

"What are you saying, Quinn?"

The elevators doors opened. Quinn stepped out ahead of Brittany. "C'mon, Britt. We've been friends since we were five. I know you better than you know yourself, and you were totally checking that girl out."

Brittany quickly caught up to Quinn's brisk pace. "Quinn! What the hell?"

"What?" Quinn asked.

"I wasn't checking her out! I'm not…you know…"

Quinn turned around. "Hey, it's okay, Britt."

"Quinn!" Brittany exclaimed, exasperated. "You know I'm as straight as they come!"

Quinn lifted her arms. "You never know."

Brittany hit Quinn's arm. "I can't believe you're saying this."

"Ow," Quinn said, clutching her arm where she was hit. "You are being awfully defensive."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Let's just go."

"Fine."

"Fine."

* * *

Regardless of what Quinn said, Brittany really did love the apartment. So did Quinn. That was why they found themselves at that dark green door again two weeks later with boxes after boxes piled around them.

Brittany grasped Quinn's hand and gave it a soft squeeze. She turned to Quinn and raised her eyebrows excitedly. "We're really doing it."

Quinn nodded. "Yes, Britt, yes, we are."

* * *

Soon, they were halfway unpacked. Their apartment was still a mess, but it was so much fun. As for Brittany, she felt like a schoolgirl again. As she put her books in the shelves, she kept coming up with scenario after scenario of how she was going to run into her hot neighbor. Maybe they would meet in the elevator. Maybe they would run into each other in the morning and go grab coffee together. A smile crept onto her face as these thoughts ran through her mind until finally Quinn interrupted with a cough.

Brittany looked up. "Yes?"

"What were you thinking about?" Quinn asked, her eyes suspicious.

"Nothing."

"You were thinking about the hot neighbor."

Brittany blushed. "No, I wasn't."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We need scissors, Britt. I just broke these."

"Okay?"

Quinn opened her arms, as if what she was implying were obvious. "So? Go next door, and ask for some."

"What?" Brittany squeaked.

Quinn chuckled. "You want to talk to the neighbor, don't you?"

"No…," Brittany mumbled unconvincingly.

"Whatever. Just go and ask for some scissors, would you?"

"Alright." Brittany felt her heartbeat speed up as she neared her door. What was she going to say? Did she look okay? God, what if she makes a bad first impression? As she was already at her neighbor's door, she decided to stop thinking too much and just ring the bell. So she did.

There was no response.

Brittany was just about to knock when she heard a muffled voice. "Wait a minute!"

Brittany stayed still for a moment when suddenly the door flipped open to reveal the woman she saw two weeks ago; only, this time, she had no clothes on except a blanket wrapped around her body. Her face was flushed, and her dark hair hung messily around her neck. What she had been doing was really no mystery. "Hi," she panted.

Brittany remained silent, unsure of what to do. Finally, she said, "Hi, I'm your new neighbor. I was about to ask for scissors, but you seem to be, er, busy right now, so I'll just go…"

The woman winced. "Sorry. I'm totally excited about having a new neighbor, though," she said with a shrug. "Let's just say that the lady who lived in your apartment before was not the nicest person."

Brittany smiled politely.

"And it doesn't hurt that you're totally cuter, too."

Brittany raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised by the remark.

"Babe!" a raspy man's voice from deep inside the apartment called. "Don't leave me hanging here!"

"Oops," the woman said to Brittany. "Gotta go." She moved to shut her door, but, before the door was fully shut, the woman gave Brittany a quick wink through the narrow gap.

Then, the door clicked shut.


	2. The Scissors

"You bear no scissors," Quinn stated matter-of-factly. She sat with her legs tucked underneath her on the wooden floor next to a taped up cardboard box, as elegant as ever.

Brittany sighed. "Sorry, she was sort of occupied."

Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"You know, she was doing something."

"Brittany, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh, she was with someone?"

" _Oh_." Quinn smiled. "It's, like, two in the afternoon."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "I know."

"I guess your little crush is quite the player." Quinn smirked to herself as she got up to unpack some already opened boxes.

"Quinn," Brittany whined, "I don't have a crush on her."

"Uh huh."

"And the guy was probably her boyfriend or something."

"Sure."

"Quinn!"

"What?" Quinn turned around now, looking innocently back at Brittany.

Brittany looked away. "Fine, so maybe I think she's kind of, sort of, really pretty."

Quinn approached Brittany gently and rubbed her shoulder. Then, she snickered. "Girl crush alert!" she said in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, my God!" Brittany exclaimed with her arms in the air.

"You know I'm just playing with you." Quinn smiled.

Brittany glared at Quinn. "How are you so okay with this anyway?"

"What?"

"My supposed 'girl crush' on our neighbor," Brittany explained with finger quotes.

Quinn shrugged. "You've made out with your fair share of girls back in college. This isn't exactly a surprise."

Brittany paused. "Wait, what?"

Quinn laughed. "What? The first time's experimental, and the second time maybe. After that…"

"I can't believe you never told me you thought this!"

"What? I don't care if you like girls. I love you. You're my best friend."

Brittany relaxed her shoulders and looked down at Quinn with soft eyes. "I love you, too, Quinn," she whispered as she hugged her best friend.

"Alright, let's finish unpacking now, Britt."

"Okay."

As the two of them sorted through all their things, laughing at random objects that they packed for no reason, they heard their doorbell ring.

"I'll get it," Quinn said.

Brittany nodded. She didn't want to get up anyway.

Quinn shuffled quickly toward the door and pulled it open. Standing there was their neighbor—in a cute sundress this time. "Hey," she said with a wave and a smile that revealed her perfect white teeth.

"Hey!" Quinn said friendlily.

Their neighbor looked at Quinn confusedly. "There's another blonde here somewhere, right?"

Quinn laughed. "Yes, yes, there is." She looked over her shoulder. "She's over there, actually."

The woman peered over Quinn's shoulder. "Aha."

Quinn turned back to their neighbor. "Oh, sorry. Come on in."

The woman smiled. "Thanks."

As Quinn led the way to their still very messy living room, the woman looked around with curious eyes. The apartment looked so different empty.

"Brittany," Quinn said when they reached the living room, "we have a guest."

Brittany briefly glanced up, but, when she saw that it was their neighbor, she quickly looked back again and stood up abruptly.

The woman gave Brittany a wide smile. "Nice to see you again."

Brittany nodded nervously, saying nothing.

Quinn rolled her eyes.

"I'm Quinn, by the way," Quinn said as she reached out to shake their neighbor's hand.

The woman smiled. "Santana."

The two of them looked at Brittany expectantly.

Brittany blinked. "Oh," she said, "I'm Brittany."

Santana grinned. "Hi, Brittany."

Quinn shifted her eyes between the two of them with a smug smirk on her lips.

Brittany laughed awkwardly. "Hi."

Santana looked at her again with one of her eyebrows playfully arched. "Anyway," she said, breaking the silence, "I came by to bring you scissors." She held them out to Brittany.

Brittany didn't move. Instead, she stared at Santana's hands. Santana had nice hands, she noticed.

Santana flicked her eyes to Quinn. "Um?"

Quinn quickly grabbed the scissors. "Thanks!" she said while shooting Brittany a look of disapproval.

"Well, uh," Santana started, looking back at Brittany, "sorry about earlier."

"Oh," Brittany said, waving her hand, "that's totally fine. Was that your boyfriend?"

Santana's eyes widened a little more than they needed to. "Oh, no, no, no." She shook her head rapidly. "He's just, you know, yeah..."

"Oh."

"Anyway," Santana said, "I should probably let you two settle in." She looked at Brittany with a playful grin. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

Brittany nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

"Alright, good. Bye, Quinn!" Santana said, waving at Quinn. She turned back to Brittany. "See you soon, Brittany," she said as she walked toward their door. When she saw that Quinn had gone back to unpacking, she winked at Brittany who still, after so many winks, reacted with as much shock as ever. Santana laughed to herself as she reentered her own apartment.

Back in Quinn and Brittany's apartment, Quinn smiled at Brittany with a playful glint in her eyes. "So," Quinn said, "she _is_ very pretty."

"Uh huh."

"I can see why you like her now."

Brittany sighed, having already given up trying to argue with Quinn.

"She has this charm about her, doesn't she?"

"Quinn," Brittany said sternly.

"What?"

"Never mind."

* * *

In a few hours, Brittany and Quinn had managed to unpack most of their things. It was already eight P.M., and they were starving, so they huddled in front of the television and ate Chinese takeout.

"I can't use these stupid chopsticks!" Brittany said, jabbing the wooden sticks into her box of rice frustratingly.

"Don't we have forks here somewhere?" Quinn asked.

"Probably. I think they might be in the boxes in my room."

"Let's go find them. I'm going to go crazy if I have to use these chopsticks anymore."

They two of them skipped into Brittany's room and ripped open the boxes when they heard a dull thudding. "Quinn, do you hear that?" Brittany asked.

Quinn nodded. "Uh huh."

They stayed still and cocked their heads, straining to hear.

More thudding.

"Um, Brittany? Is that what I think it is?"

Muffled moans.

Quinn bit her lip. "Yep."

Brittany stared at the wall where the noises came from, sort of disturbed and sort of surprised.

"Yes! Right there!" a female voice screamed.

Brittany looked back at Quinn with her eyebrows raised.

Quinn chuckled. "I guess Santana and her _friend_ are pretty close."

Brittany scrunched her nose. _Maybe this is just a one-time thing_ , she thought to herself.

* * *

It wasn't.

Brittany was on her laptop in bed, and the thudding was driving her crazy. She had been in her new place for only five days, and she had yet to enjoy one night of peace and quiet. In fact, Brittany heard a different voice coming from the other side of the wall every night. Her neighbor, in simple terms, got around.

Tonight was no exception. Brittany typed away on her laptop, trying her best to block out the sounds with her headphones, which were more or less effective.

"Yes, Santana! Oh, my God, yes!"

Brittany stopped typing and pulled her headphones out. She was fairly certain she just heard a female voice calling out Santana's name.

"You're so fucking good, Santana!" the muffled female voice said again.

Yep. Apparently, Santana didn't stop at the men. Despite her annoyance, Brittany had to admit she was sort of impressed.

With a sigh, Brittany padded over to Quinn's bedroom and knocked.

"Come in!"

Brittany dragged her feet into Quinn's room and flopped down onto her bed.

"What's up?" Quinn asked, stroking Brittany's hair.

"Santana."

"Oh, is she, uh, with someone again?"

Brittany nodded.

"Is he one of those loud ones?"

"She," Brittany corrected.

Quinn raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, well, well…"

Brittany laughed. "Can I stay over here tonight?"

"Yeah, of course, Britt. You should probably talk to Santana about this, um, situation soon, though. I mean, you can't come over every night."

"I know," Brittany said. "I'll talk to her next time I see her."

"Alright." Quinn grinned. "Wanna talk and go to bed?"

Brittany nodded excitedly.

"Cool." Quinn got up and flipped the light switch off. Then she jumped back into bed and snuggled into Brittany.

"She seems to be really good, too," Brittany mused.

"What?"

"Santana," Brittany explained. "Let's just say that the girl over there right now is more than appreciative."

Quinn laughed. "Wish it were you, Britt?"

"No!" Brittany smacked Quinn lightly.

"I'm just joking," Quinn whined. "But, no, really."

"Quinn! I'm going to stop talking to you now."

Quinn laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll stop."

"Good night, Quinn."

Quinn gave Brittany a soft hug. "Good night, Britt. Have fun dreaming about Santana."

"Oh, my God."

"Just don't be too loud and wake me up."

"Not talking to you anymore."

"Good night."

"Good night."


	3. The Fight

"Brittany! You're going to be late!" Quinn called from the kitchen.

"I know, I know!" Brittany called back. In a second, she appeared in the kitchen with a toothbrush in her mouth, hopping on one foot while putting on a shoe on her other foot.

Quinn shook her head and clucked disapprovingly as she gently flipped the bacon in the pan. "Are you going to have time for breakfast?"

"No," Brittany mumbled. "But I'll grab some bacon anyway."

"Sheesh, Britt, how do you stay so hot when you eat so much bacon all the time?"

Brittany smiled sheepishly. She wasn't about to be modest and deny being hot. She was close enough with Quinn to be honest about these things. Besides, Brittany was never the type of girl to deny obvious compliments with fake modesty. "Not as hot as you," she said back to Quinn.

"And I spend half my life working out," Quinn sighed.

Brittany dashed back into the bathroom and was back in seconds, teeth brushed, hair blow-dried beautifully, and face made up. She twirled in front of Quinn, making her grey suit flap in the air. "What do you think?" she asked.

Quinn smiled. "Perfect."

Brittany tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. "Thanks."

"Here, grab some bacon, and be on your way. Don't want you to be late for your first job interview."

Brittany nodded. She jabbed her fork into a few pieces of bacon and stuffed them in her mouth. "Mmm, so good," she mumbled. "Okay, gotta go. See you soon, Quinn! Wish me luck!" she called behind her as she shot out the door.

Quinn stared at Brittany clumsily tripping out the door with a proud smile. "You won't need it!" she said.

Brittany grinned. Quinn always knew what to say. She hit the elevator button and waited, swinging her briefcase around as she whistled some random song stuck in her head. It was a good morning.

"Look at you all dressed up."

Brittany spun around to find her neighbor approaching her with that annoyingly charming smirk on her face.

"Good morning," Brittany said.

"Good morning, Brittany. How are you today?" Santana asked.

"I'm good."

"Yeah? What are you dressed up for?"

"Job interview."

"Oh?" Santana smiled. "I'm sure you'll nail it."

"Thanks," Brittany said quietly, looking at the ground.

The elevator pinged. Santana gestured at the elevator with her hand. "Go ahead."

Brittany nodded and entered first. Santana followed closely behind. Both in the elevator, they reached for the buttons at the same time, accidentally brushing their hands. Santana didn't break from the contact. Instead, she just looked up at Brittany through her eyelashes with the corner of her mouth twitched up.

Brittany coughed and pulled her hand back.

"Ground floor?" Santana asked.

Brittany nodded, and Santana clicked the button for the both of them.

"Santana?"

Santana looked at Brittany. "Yes?"

"Okay, this might sound really weird, but the walls separating our apartments are sort of thin."

"Okay?"

"And I can hear everything going on in your, um, bedroom."

Santana laughed. "Yeah?"

Brittany glanced at her unsurely. "This isn't supposed to be funny."

Santana looked back at Brittany amusedly. "It kind of is."

Brittany frowned. "I'm serious, though."

Santana chuckled. "You're cute," she told Brittany, biting her lip as she did so.

Brittany didn't know how to respond, but she didn't have to. The elevator doors opened at that moment, and Santana hopped out right away. "Well, then, until next time, Brittany," she said, grinning with a tilt of her head. Then, she shuffled quickly toward the door, flashing the doorman one of her charming smiles, who smiled back goofily and stared as she strutted out the door. As the glass door closed behind her, Santana glanced over her shoulder and gave Brittany a small wave.

Brittany smiled back uneasily, half expecting a wink.

And she expected right. Before turning around to walk down the street, Santana gave Brittany a final wink. Then, she disappeared.

* * *

"How were your interviews?" Quinn asked.

"Good, I think," Brittany said as she chewed on her pasta. Quinn made such good pasta.

Quinn smiled. "Good to hear."

"I talked to Santana, by the way."

"Oh, yeah?" Quinn already had that annoying smirk on her face—that inevitable smirk that appeared every time anything Santana-related came up.

"Whatever you're about to say, don't."

Quinn widened her eyes in feigned innocence. "I wasn't about to say anything."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Save it, Quinn."

Quinn laughed. "Okay, so tell me what happened!"

Brittany shrugged. "Nothing, really. She just kind of laughed."

Quinn furrowed her eyebrows. "That doesn't sound good. I hope she gets the message, though."

"Me, too."

* * *

Santana didn't exactly get the message. As usual, Brittany sat in bed, surfing the Internet before going to sleep. Unfortunately, as usual, the thudding began. Brittany sighed in exasperation. _Really?_ She had talked to Santana already. She didn't know what else she could do. So, she banged her fist on the wall, hoping that that would quiet things down.

"Brittany?" she heard Santana's quiet voice say.

The thudding ceased. "Hi," Brittany yelled at the wall.

"Oh, hey, Brittany!" the muted voice called back. "Are we being too loud?"

"Sort of."

"Are you trying to sleep?"

"Yeah."

Lots of giggling from the other side of the wall. "Irene thinks you should join us!"

Brittany paused. "Um…"

She heard Santana's distinct throaty laugh again through the walls. "Come over, Brittany!"

"No, thank you?"

"Aw, c'mon, Britt."

"I, uh, what?"

"Well, okay. But if you change your mind, you know where we are!" More obnoxious giggling.

"Jesus, can you just fuck me already, Santana?" another female voice said.

"Talk to you later, Brittany!" Santana called as the moaning started again.

Brittany sprawled her body on the bed and took a deep breath. This thing had to stop.

* * *

Brittany rapped her knuckles on Santana's door impatiently. She had woken up that morning tired and frustrated from just a few hours of sleep, and she was going to solve this problem now.

After a few more knocks, the door opened slowly, revealing an equally tired Santana.

"Hi, Santana," Brittany said curtly.

"Brittany," Santana said, "it's like ten in the morning."

"Which is when normal people wake up after going to bed at eleven at night."

Santana blinked slowly, still trying to get the sleep out of her system. "What do you want, Brittany?" It was kind of hard to get her charm on when she was still half-asleep.

"I want you to stop making so much noise at night because, unlike you, other people need to sleep."

"Only 'cause they can't get any."

"What did you just say?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "I think you need to get laid because you're being very cranky right now."

"Excuse me?"

Santana sighed. "Look, Brittany, I can help out with that if that's what you want."

"What? No!" Brittany scoffed. "But I'm sure you'd be happy to help anyone with that."

"What are you implying?" Santana asked, narrowing her eyes.

"C'mon, Santana," Brittany said, raising her arms, "it's not exactly a secret that you get around."

Santana glared at Brittany. "You don't even know me." With that, she slammed the door in Brittany's face.


	4. The Bar

At first, Brittany just stared at the door, too stunned to do anything. When she regained her composure, she narrowed her eyes and stormed back into her apartment. Flinging the door open, she stomped into Quinn's room.

"Ugh, Quinn! I'm going to go crazy!" she yelled as she sat on Quinn's bed.

Quinn slowly turned around and blinked lazily at Brittany. "Are you okay, Britt?" she mumbled.

Brittany grabbed Quinn by the shoulders and shook her. "No, I'm not okay!"

"Oh, my God," Quinn said, finally waking up. "What happened?"

"Santana!"

Quinn smirked. She couldn't help herself.

"Quinn! This isn't funny anymore."

Still smiling, Quinn said, "It'll always be funny."

Brittany glared at her.

Quinn pretended to cough. "But, for now, I'll shut up and just listen."

"Thank you." Brittany sighed. "I went over just now to ask her to stop being so loud, and she said I needed to get laid."

The corners of Quinn's mouth automatically twitched up again. "Maybe you do."

"You're supposed to be on my side!"

Quinn rubbed Brittany's arm reassuringly. "And I am, but you know what? Now that I think about it, it _has_ been a while."

"I cannot believe we're having this conversation."

Quinn gave Brittany one of her most soothing smiles. "Let's go out tonight. It'll be fun. We'll find you a cute guy."

Brittany considered Quinn's suggestion for a second. "I guess that sounds kind of fun."

"It does." Quinn grinned.

"How about you?"

"What?"

"If I need to get laid, so do you," Brittany said with a mischievous grin.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Britt, I'm fine."

Brittany crawled up to Quinn's side slowly. "No, you're not. I think we should go find you a boyfriend," she said in a teasing tone.

"Brittany, shut up and let me go back to sleep." Quinn shoved Brittany off her bed and curled back into her sheets.

Brittany smiled down at Quinn's sleeping body. When she leaned down to pull the blanket up to Quinn's chin, Quinn opened one eye at her and smiled.

Brittany smiled back and dropped a quick kiss on her forehead. "Good night, Quinn." Quietly, she slipped out of the room.

Now, she just had to find an outfit for tonight.

* * *

"Quinn! What's taking you so long?"

"Sorry! I just have to finish up my makeup."

Brittany skipped into Quinn's room. "You look fine, Quinn."

"Just give me a second," Quinn said as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, adding little touches here and there.

Brittany walked toward Quinn and wrapped her arms around Quinn's waist from behind.

Quinn chuckled. "How is it that you are ready before me?"

"I'm growing up," Brittany joked.

Quinn laughed. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go."

They shuffled out the door and waited for the elevator.

Quinn gazed at their reflection in the elevator doors. "Hmm, we look pretty hot," she mused as she turned back and forth.

Brittany laughed. She had to agree. They did look pretty good in their little black dresses and high heels. "Which bar are we going to again?"

"The one just a block away. I saw it the other day, and it looked pretty nice."

"Cool," Brittany said.

They took the elevator downstairs then walked a block to the bar while talking about everything and nothing. Brittany didn't think she could ever get sick of Quinn. Otherwise, they would have stopped being friends years ago. They had known each other for that long.

The bar they arrived at was very homey. It was dim inside, but the soft lighting was relaxing. As soon as Brittany and Quinn sat at the bar, the bartender sidled up to them. It was hard not to notice two attractive blondes.

"Hey, ladies," the bartender said, "I haven't seen you around here."

Quinn smiled. She was always the flirty one. "We just moved here a week ago."

"Oh, yeah? Well, welcome to the neighborhood. These drinks are on me," he said with a wink. As Quinn stared dreamily, he started mixing drinks for them. He was totally her type. Quinn was always a good girl, and she always loved the bad boys. The bartender was exactly that: from the bulky biceps to the tattoo on his forearm and, of course, who could ever miss that Mohawk.

Quinn turned to Brittany and mouthed, "Hot."

Brittany just rolled her eyes. Mohawks? Not her thing. Instead, she looked around the room. There had to be some cute guys here somewhere. Before she even had a chance to thoroughly search the room, though, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw a tall, sharp man in a light grey suit. He flashed her a bright smile and asked, "Can I get you a drink?"

Brittany smiled back. "Of course."

As he made his order with the bartender, Brittany looked him up and down. He was very classically handsome, and, judging by his suit, he was probably a lawyer or something along those lines. After they got their drinks, they scooted down the bar a little to get some privacy while Quinn and the bartender chatted animatedly. Brittany made some small talk with the man as she sipped her drink. She learned that his name was Ben and that he, in fact, was a lawyer.

As he told her his whole life story—which, by the way, was as dull as his job—the door creaked open. Brittany glanced over, knowing that Ben wouldn't even notice her lack of attention (he was that immersed in his story) and, of course, there stood Santana in a thigh length purple dress and impossibly high heels. She had heavy makeup on, and her gorgeous hair was as impeccable as ever.

Santana noticed Brittany just as quickly and rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she asked irritatedly.

Brittany flashed Ben a sweet smile. "Excuse me for a second." Turning back to Santana, she scowled. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I come here every night, blondie." Santana crossed her arms. "Maybe you should find yourself a new bar. It might get too loud here with me around."

Brittany took a deep breath while Ben gaped at the argument in front of him, unsure of what to do. "Okay, let's just move on, ladies," he finally said as he placed his hands on Brittany's shoulders and steered her away.

Santana scoffed. She could tell he was a jackass, but whom Brittany hung out with was none of her business. Instead, she strutted toward the bartender Quinn was chatting up and gave him a huge hug. "Get me a drink, Puck," she said, playfully hitting his arm.

He laughed. "Yes, ma'am!"

Brittany, now at the corner of the bar with Ben, was as annoyed as ever. Something about Santana just made her so uneasy and all worked up. She tried to ignore her Santana thoughts and listened to Ben's awful stories instead—ones only made bearable by downing drink after drink.

In an hour, Brittany started giggling at everything Ben said. She didn't even know if he was trying to be funny. Ben also had a few drinks himself and was getting a little handsy. Brittany kept pushing him away every time he roamed his hands too far up her legs, but he was persistent.

At last, Brittany lost her temper. "Stop it, Ben," she said.

"C'mon, Brittany," he husked into her ear, snaking his hand up her dress again.

"I said, stop," Brittany said louder this time.

He ignored her.

"Ben!" Brittany yelled, pushing him away by his shoulders. "Get off me!"

Out of nowhere, Santana appeared. "Hey, jerk," she said to Ben, "you heard her."

"This is none of your business," he slurred.

"Ugh, just go home. You're kind of a mess," she said to him, disapproval in her eyes.

"Bitch, you're messing with the wrong guy," he mumbled unconvincingly.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Look, I know everyone here." She glanced over at the bar, where the bartenders were all staring Ben down. "So why don't you just leave right now and not make a scene?"

Ben looked over and saw the bartenders gazing at him menacingly. He swallowed a bit, and, with what little dignity he had left, stumbled away.

"Where's Quinn?" Santana asked Brittany concernedly.

Brittany shrugged, too drunk to form proper sentences. "Left with Puck?"

Santana sighed. She placed Brittany's arm over her shoulder and slipped her arm around Brittany's waist. "C'mon, I'll take you home."

Since they were only a block away, the walk back wasn't too difficult. When they reached Brittany's door, Santana stuck out her palm to Brittany, waiting for Brittany to give her the keys.

When Brittany didn't move, Santana shook her a little. "Give me your keys, Brittany."

Brittany smiled drunkenly. "No keys."

"What?"

"Didn't bring mine. Thought I was coming home with Quinn."

Santana frowned. After a second, she said, "Alright, you're coming with me, then." Gripping Brittany's waist tighter, she guided Brittany toward her door, and pulled her in the apartment.


	5. The Morning After

As the bright sunlight crept into the room and the warmth of summer seeped into Brittany's skin, she stretched and yawned. After rolling around for a bit, Brittany blinked and slowly awoke. She observed her surroundings sluggishly. Either she was extremely hung over or she wasn't in her room because she did not recognize this place at all.

She crawled out of the warm, fluffy blanket and padded toward the door. She looked down and noticed that she was wearing a big T-shirt with a cartoon robot on it. She raised her eyebrows but didn't bother to think more of it. It hurt her head too much to think. Rather, she studied the paintings lining the walls of the hallway she was walking down. They were all different sizes and of different subjects. Some were landscapes, and others were objects. What they all had in common was that they were all very soothing to look at. Brittany wasn't sure why.

As she neared the end of the hallway, she began to hear sizzling noises accompanied with the irresistible aroma of a homemade breakfast. When she turned the corner, she saw Santana at the kitchen, flipping pancakes while eating some of the ones already cooked with her free hand.

Brittany smiled. "Eager much?" She didn't know why she felt so comfortable with Santana at that moment. Maybe it was because Santana was much less intimidating in just a T-shirt and boxers or maybe it was because Santana had already seen her drunk. Things couldn't get much worse.

Santana looked up. "Oh, hey," she mumbled, her mouth full of pancake. "Good morning."

Brittany laughed. "Should I even ask why I just woke up here?"

Santana shook her head no. "We'll get to that part later. For now," she said, grinning mischievously at the food in front of her, "pancakes?"

Brittany nodded. "Please. I'm starving."

"Good, I am, too. Sit down," Santana said, gesturing at the stools at the open kitchen.

Brittany nodded and sat. As she waited for Santana to finish up the pancakes, she looked around again. Santana's apartment was very tastefully furnished, and there were paintings everywhere. Then, she noticed the pillow and the blanket on the couch. "Did you sleep on the couch last night?"

Santana nodded. "Uh huh."

"I stole your bed, didn't I?"

"I offered."

"Really?"

Santana grinned. "Well, no, not really. I just kind of stuffed you into the bed."

Brittany laughed. "Sorry about that. I bet I'm not a very attractive drunk."

Santana tilted her head thoughtfully. "Actually, you are one of the few people who can pull off sexy drunk."

"Really?" Brittany asked, placing her hand on her chest for dramatic effect. "Why, thank you," she joked.

Santana grinned at her.

"I can't cook to save my life," Brittany suddenly said.

Santana chuckled. "I can teach you sometime."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"Cool, 'cause Quinn already gave up trying to teach me."

Santana faked a wince. "Damn, what did I get myself into?" she joked.

"Hey! No turning back now. You promised," Brittany said with a smug smile.

"Well, okay, just as long as you live up to your end of the promise."

"What? Show up here and learn a basic life skill?"

Santana laughed. Brittany had such a quirky sense of humor. "Strawberries with your pancakes?"

"Yes, please."

"In the shape of a smiley face?"

Brittany's eyes widened in a mixture of happiness and surprise. "Oh, my God, how did you know?"

Santana chuckled. "That's how I like my pancakes, too."

"Mmm," Brittany said slowly, "I like you already, Santana."

Santana didn't respond. She just continued staring at the pan, flipping the pancakes as a subtle smile appeared at her lips.

* * *

As the two of them sat on Santana's couch with their smiley face pancakes, Santana explained what had happened the night before.

"…and then you told me you didn't have your keys, so I brought you back here," she finished.

Brittany nodded. "Hey, Santana?"

"Mmhmm?" Santana responded while chewing on a bite of pancake.

"Thanks."

Santana swallowed. "Yeah, of course. Gotta watch out for my neighbors," she said with a wink.

"And sorry about that other day."

"Oh," Santana said, looking away dismissively, "I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I get kind of crabby in the mornings."

Brittany smiled. "All is forgiven?"

Santana nodded. "Yep."

Brittany held out her pinky expectantly.

Santana stared at it, her eyes flicking between Brittany's pinky and her eyes unsurely. "Really?"

Brittany rolled her eyes. "I'm not questioning your robot shirt."

Santana blushed. "Fine." When she finally latched her pinky onto Brittany's, the two of them fell into a fit of laughter.

After calming down, Brittany said, "So, yeah. Robot shirt?"

Santana looked away. "I may or may not have been on my high school's robotics team."

Brittany couldn't stop her laughter. "Who would have ever thought you were a nerd?"

Santana glared at her jokingly. "Shut up."

"Mmm, so I guess the movies are right."

"About what?"

Brittany shrugged. "Nerds do grow up to be super hot."

A coy grin appeared on Santana's face. "You think I'm hot?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Now you're just fishing for compliments."

Santana threw her head back and laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

Brittany smiled to herself, glad that Santana could be so comfortable around her. "Hey, so tell me about these paintings," Brittany said, glancing at the paintings hanging on the walls.

"It's nothing. I paint sometimes," Santana explained.

"Oh, my gosh, you did these?" Brittany asked incredulously.

"Uh huh."

"They're so good!"

Santana smiled sheepishly. It was the first time Brittany had seen Santana displaying something other than confidence. "Thanks," Santana whispered.

"Are you a painter, then?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"But you paint for fun?"

Santana thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

"What do you do then?"

"I'm a model."

"Oh." Brittany smiled. "Figures."

"Yeah?"

"Is that how you pay for this apartment?" Brittany asked.

Santana snorted. "I wish. My parents pay for this."

"Aha, so you're a daddy's girl."

Santana grinned. "Yes, that I am. You know what, we should stop talking about me. How about you? Tell me everything I need to know."

Brittany smiled. "Okay."

* * *

"Well, thanks for breakfast. It was really fun," Brittany said as she stood at Santana's door.

"Yeah, of course. We should do this again sometime."

Brittany nodded. "Well, I guess I'm going to go now…"

"Hey, I'll walk you back."

Brittany smiled. "Okay."

So, together, they walked the five steps back to Brittany's door. "I hope Quinn's home," Brittany said as she rang the bell. "Don't want to be locked out again."

Thankfully, Quinn opened the door right away. "Brittany!" Then she saw Santana. "Santana!"

Santana smiled back.

Quinn looked at Brittany questioningly, curious about why she was with Santana, who, last time Quinn checked, Brittany loathed.

Understanding Quinn's questioning eyes, Brittany shrugged. "I didn't have my keys last night, so I was over at Santana's."

"Oh." After a moment, Quinn smirked. "So did you two…?"

"Oh, my God, Quinn!" Brittany said too loudly. "No!"

"What?" Quinn said defensively. "That's just what it looks like," she said bluntly.

Brittany looked at Santana apologetically. "I'm sorry. Quinn has no boundaries."

"Hey!" Quinn said.

Santana laughed. "It's totally fine. I guess I'll head back now. Nice seeing you, Quinn," she said. Then she turned to look at Brittany. "We have to do this again soon, okay?"

Brittany nodded and smiled.

"Good." She lifted her hand to Brittany's arm and gave it a little rub. "Bye, Brittany. See you later."

And when she tossed Brittany a final glance over her shoulder, ready to give Brittany her signature wink, she couldn't. Instead, she bit her lip and turned around, scuffling quickly into her apartment.


	6. The Walk Home

When Quinn heard the sound of Santana's door shutting close, Quinn quickly grabbed Brittany by her arm and dragged her in the apartment. "Oh, my God, Brittany! What happened?"

"Nothing. That guy from the bar was being super annoying, and I was sort of tipsy, so Santana brought me back here."

"Awww."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "It's not that big of a deal, Quinn."

"And then what happened?"

"I just slept, and then this morning we had pancakes."

Quinn poked Brittany playfully. "Look at you and your little girlfriend," she teased.

"Shut up, Quinn. What about you? You went home with that bartender last night." Brittany wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Did you guys, you know?"

* * *

"Oh my God, oh my God," Santana muttered under her breath as she urgently dialled Puck's number.

"I was just about to call you," Puck said.

"Come over right now."

"One step ahead of you."

Hearing her doorbell, Santana rushed to the door, where she found Puck standing there with his eyebrows furrowed and his phone at his ear. When he saw Santana, he dropped his phone back in his pocket and briskly walked inside.

Santana shut the door behind her and followed Puck inside. "I have something to talk to you about," she said.

"So do I."

Silence.

"I brought a hot blonde home last night, and I didn't have sex with her," the two of them blurted out simultaneously.

"What?" Santana asked, squinting her eyes in confusion.

Puck spun around to look at Santana. "Wait, what?"

"You mean Quinn?"

"Uh huh."

"What did you two do then?"

Puck scratched his head. "We talked," he said with a grimace.

Santana let out a pained chuckle. "Oh, boy."

"Wait, what happened with you?"

"Quinn's roommate got a bit tipsy, and she didn't have her keys, so I brought her back here."

Puck laughed as he finally noticed the blanket on the couch. "And you slept on the couch?"

Santana nodded ruefully. "Puck," she whined, "I made her pancakes."

Puck raised his eyebrows.

"And then I couldn't even wink at her when I walked her back."

"What? You wink like it's your job."

" _I know._ "

"Damn, Santana," he said softly, "we're fucking screwed."

* * *

"Jesus, Puck, would you move your fat ass?" Santana yelled at the bathroom door.

"Gimme some time, woman!" he shouted back.

Santana rolled her eyes and barged into the bathroom.

"Dude, I'm in the middle of peeing here!" Puck yelled, turning away from Santana.

"Save it, Puck. It's nothing I haven't seen before," Santana said nonchalantly as she studied her face in the mirror.

After fixing up her eyeliner, Santana glanced at Puck again, who was zipping up his pants. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Great. Let's go."

It was seven P.M., and Puck and Santana were heading to one of their favorite restaurants. Well, it was more of Santana's favorite restaurant, but Puck learned to love it too after years of friendship with Santana.

As they locked the door behind them, they heard some shuffling from Brittany and Quinn's apartment. Puck and Santana glanced at each other curiously when Quinn opened the door and stepped out with Brittany following closely behind.

"Puck!" Quinn exclaimed upon seeing him.

Puck smiled. "Hey, Quinn. What's up?" He stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets awkwardly as he waited for a response.

Santana would have rolled her eyes if she weren't totally captivated by Brittany who was wearing a nice dress that showed her endlessly long legs. "Hey, Santana," she said with a smile.

Santana quickly flicked her eyes back up to Brittany's face. "Hi, Brittany. Where are you guys going?"

Brittany shrugged. "We're going to dinner, but we're not really sure where."

"Oh." Santana rocked back and forth on her heels. "Why don't you-why don't you guys come with us?"

Brittany tilted her head in consideration then tapped Quinn's shoulder. Quinn broke away from her conversation with Puck and turned to Brittany. "Yeah?"

"Santana just asked if we'd like to have dinner with her and Puck."

"That's funny because Puck just asked the exact same thing," Quinn said, flashing Puck a quick smile as she did so.

Puck grinned back.

"Well," Brittany said, turning to Santana, "I don't see why not."

Santana smiled. "Cool."

* * *

"Wow," Brittany breathed, "you really do love those breadsticks, don't you?"

Santana blushed and stopped munching on her breadstick. "Um…"

Brittany chuckled. "No, go ahead. It obviously has no effect on your body," she added, raking her eyes over Santana's form.

Santana shifted in her chair. That was more like it. People should be checking her out—not the other way around. But, somehow, having Brittany check her out made her more nervous than confident, and it was driving her crazy.

Dinner had been nice. The four of them had talked a little bit about their lives and how they all found their respective best friends. As they waited for the check now, Santana started eating another breadstick, taking full advantage of the unlimited breadstick policy at the restaurant.

When the bill arrived, they all tried to pay it, finally deciding to simply split it up. Puck and Quinn were in their own little world, leaving Santana and Brittany to themselves. Santana wasn't sure if she liked this arrangement. Ever since that breakfast, something had changed. For some reason, Santana couldn't be her flirty self anymore, and she didn't know how to act if not flirty. That was why she was fairly certain she seemed like a huge idiot to Brittany. At least Brittany was still smiling and laughing. But, then again, Santana didn't think Brittany could do anything else but smile and laugh.

The night's air was cooler than expected, and Santana automatically wrapped her arms around herself once she left the restaurant. Puck, being a gentleman for once, draped his jacket over Quinn's small body. Quinn smiled up at him thankfully and linked her arm through his.

Brittany and Santana walked a couple of feet behind them. "Cold?" Brittany asked.

Santana nodded. "Kind of."

"Me, too."

"Come here," Santana said, opening her arms.

Brittany grinned and shuffled closer to Santana.

Santana wrapped an arm around Brittany's waist, and Brittany did the same. "Better?" she asked, looking up at Brittany.

"Mmhmm."

Santana leaned her head onto Brittany's shoulder. "Good."

"Puck and Quinn are cute," Brittany mused as she gazed at the couple walking in front of them.

"Yeah," Santana whispered. She never knew the day would come when she would find Puck and someone else together "cute," but there were many things she didn't know. For one, she didn't know Brittany was going to be her neighbor.

Brittany looked down at Santana with a playful grin. "You're cute."

Santana scrunched her nose.

Brittany giggled. "I mean it, though. You're cute."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

Santana smiled and tightened her grip on Brittany's waist.

Brittany turned to look at Santana when she felt Santana hold her tighter. They didn't say anything to each other. For a few seconds, Brittany just stared into Santana's brown eyes gazing back at her before both of them looked away again.

And, for the rest of the way home, they walked in silence as the night's breeze swirled around them, the proximity of their bodies being all that was needed to keep them warm both inside and out.


	7. The Not-Date

"I can't believe you're doing this to me."

Quinn looked at Brittany pointedly. "I'm leaving you for, like, four hours, Brittany."

"Exactly!" Brittany exclaimed, half-jokingly.

Quinn laughed. "You'll figure something out."

Brittany gazed wistfully at the kitchen. "Don't kill me if I burn the apartment down."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a drama queen." She glanced at herself in the mirror one last time and smiled satisfyingly.

"Stop looking at yourself. You're perfect," Brittany admitted reluctantly.

Quinn patted Brittany's head. "It's okay, Brittany, you're not that hard to look at yourself."

As Brittany swatted at Quinn's hand while Quinn skillfully dodged all her attacks, the doorbell rang.

Brittany raised her eyebrows. "Hmm, looks like your _date_ is here," she teased.

Quinn looked at Brittany with her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure you're twenty-two?"

Before Brittany could think of a rebuttal, Quinn glided to the door. "Hi," she said when she opened the door. For Puck's standards, he was very nicely dressed in his blazer and jeans. In his hands was a bouquet of roses that had Quinn sighing contentedly.

He held up the flowers to Quinn. "You look lovely," he said.

"Thank you," Quinn replied as she studied the flowers adoringly. Quinn had always been a girly girl—she was a sucker for things like flowers.

Brittany watched the interaction from the end of the hallway with a small smirk on her face. "You guys are killing me with all this cuteness!" she complained.

Quinn turned around to give Brittany a death glare. When she faced Puck again, she was back to sweet Quinn mode. "Ready to go?" she asked.

Puck grinned and lifted his arm.

Quinn slipped her arm through his, and they walked out together.

Brittany sighed at hearing her stomach rumble. Quinn had already bought her all the groceries she needed to cook her dinner, insisting that Brittany should eat some real homemade food as Brittany had been ordering in or eating out for the past week. Brittany had reluctantly complied—Quinn was always annoyingly convincing—and now she regretted it. She had no idea how she was going to produce something that wouldn't give her food poisoning, but she had to try.

She opened the fridge and pulled out all the vegetables and meat, lining them nicely along the kitchen table. That much she could do. Then, she stared at the uncooked food in front of her. If only a chef magically appeared right then.

* * *

Santana paced the distance between her door and Brittany's back and forth. In the middle of her sixth lap, she looked up at Brittany's door and bit her lip. With as much determination as she could muster, she strode up to Brittany's door and rang the bell.

In a second, Brittany opened the door. She was refreshingly dressed down in only a white tank top and sweatpants. It made Santana smile.

"Santana! Hi!"

"Hi, Brittany."

Brittany looked around unsurely. "What's up?"

"Um, Puck told me he had a date with Quinn tonight."

"Yeah."

"I was afraid you might be bored," Santana said, looking away when she realized how lame she was being.

Brittany laughed. "I'm not bored; I'm just starving."

Santana looked back at her again. "Yeah?"

"Uh huh. Quinn made me promise to not order in or eat out, so I'm just trying to cook the food on my kitchen counter with my eyes now."

Santana raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

Brittany looked down at the ground, not having intended for her words to make her appear so mentally unsound. "Anyway…"

"How about that promise?" Santana asked, suddenly remembering.

"Hm?"

"I told you I'd teach you how to cook?"

Brittany broke into a wide smile. "Oh, yeah!"

Santana grinned. "I couldn't possibly break a pinky promise, could I?"

"No, that would be terrible," Brittany said, shaking her head. "Come in." She moved aside to let Santana walk by.

The hallway was narrower than either of them expected because Santana barely squeezed through, and, even though she did, her shoulders brushed lightly against Brittany's front. They both realized it, but neither of them said anything.

"So, I guess this is the stuff waiting to be cooked," Santana finally said after the silence as she looked at the food on the kitchen table.

"Yeah."

"Well," Santana started, flashing Brittany a mischievous grin, "let's get to work."

* * *

"Oh, my God, Brittany!" Santana exclaimed. "No!"

"What do I do?" Brittany squealed.

Brittany had somehow lit the steak in the pan on fire, and she sincerely hoped her friendship with Quinn would be deep enough for Quinn to forgive her for destroying their home.

"Spatula! Brittany, give me the spatula!" Santana ordered.

Brittany stared back at Santana with wide eyes, too stunned to understand anything.

"Oh, Jesus," Santana muttered. Without thinking, she slid her right hand up Brittany's right arm and clutched the spatula over Brittany's hand. With her left hand, she wrapped her fingers around Brittany's other hand that was gripping onto the handle of the pan.

Brittany stood still, letting Santana move her limbs, and watched as Santana fixed the mess that she had created. What occupied her mind more than the disaster before her was the fact that she had never felt so much skin contact with Santana before. Part of Santana's body was pressed up against her back and Santana's arms wrapped around her own. The contact combined with the possessiveness of the position made Brittany all giddy inside.

"I hope this is still edible," Santana mumbled as the fire died down.

"Sorry," Brittany squeaked.

"It's not your fault." Santana glanced up at Brittany. "You're doing great."

"You don't have to lie to me, Santana."

As the urgency of the situation subsided, Santana became suddenly fully aware of the positioning of her body. She pulled away from Brittany and stood awkwardly to the side. "I would never lie to you, Brittany," Santana said quietly.

Brittany grinned. She placed her hands under the tap and washed them clean. Then, she flicked her fingers at Santana, sprinkling her with water.

"Brittany!" Santana exclaimed.

Brittany giggled.

"You're not getting away with this." As Santana was not as close to the sink, she grabbed whatever she could find nearby. Scooping up some flour into her hand, she flung it at Brittany who couldn't dodge it completely, leaving parts of her face and hair white.

Santana clutched her stomach and laughed heartily.

"Oh, you're in trouble, Santana," Brittany warned.

Soon, the two of them were engaged in an intense flour fight, which would have been fine if they hadn't decided to run around as well, powdering the general area around the kitchen with flour.

Santana skipped around the tables and chairs, ducking each of Brittany's attacks. But, with her longer legs, Brittany finally caught up to Santana, and, this time, she wasn't going to let her go. She practically pounced on Santana, grabbing her from behind, to which Santana screamed and tried to wriggle free.

"Let me go!" Santana begged.

"Never!" Brittany yelled, tickling Santana's sides.

Santana continued to struggle, squirming and squealing, until finally the two of them toppled over onto the ground.

Santana took the upper hand this time, quickly straddling Brittany and tickling her ribs.

Brittany giggled uncontrollably and thrashed around.

"Brittany! Stop moving!" Santana grabbed Brittany's shoulders and held her down with surprising strength.

With Santana not tickling her anymore, Brittany finally calmed down from her giggles and inhaled deeply, catching her breath.

Santana, too, sucked in deep breaths of air, gazing down at Brittany, whose cheeks were flushed pink, whose hair was a mess, and whose lips were slightly parted.

Brittany watched Santana's chest heave with her every breath, and she bit her lip when she saw Santana's eyes darken as her gaze pierced into Brittany's eyes.

A puff of air left Brittany's lips along with an almost inaudible whimper.

"What. The. Hell."

Brittany and Santana immediately spun their heads toward the door, finding a very angry-looking Quinn.


	8. The Aftermath

"Hi, Quinn," Brittany squeaked.

Santana smiled at Quinn nervously. "Hey?" she said with a shrug.

Brittany patted Santana's back, signaling for her to stand up. Santana did so immediately, and Brittany followed.

"What is going on?" Quinn asked in exasperation.

Brittany scratched her head. "Uh…we were cooking?"

Santana winced, subconsciously reaching out and brushing the flour off Brittany's cheek with her thumb.

Despite the situation, Brittany smiled down at Santana sweetly.

If Brittany weren't her best friend and if she and Santana weren't that adorable together, Quinn would have killed them. But now, Quinn simply huffed and rolled her eyes. "Just clean up, you guys," she said, looking around at the flour-clad walls with disgust.

"Yeah, of course," Brittany said. "Why are you back so early anyway?"

"I was afraid you were going to starve to death or something without me."

Brittany tilted her head, too touched for words. "Aww, Quinn…"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Clearly, that wasn't a prob-"

Quinn's words were cut short by Brittany's sudden embrace.

"Brittany! Let me go! You're getting flour all over me!"

"But I love you!"

Quinn tried to push Brittany off her, but Brittany was too strong. "Ugh, Britt."

"Give up, Quinn. You're such a weakling," Brittany told her.

Santana giggled at the girls in front of her.

Brittany glanced over. "C'mon, Santana! Group hug!"

Quinn widened her eyes, horrified. Then she felt another strong body hugging her. She relaxed in the girls' arms with a sigh. There was no use fighting anymore. She had flour all over her body by now. And it _was_ sort of funny. Quinn tried to stifle a laugh, but when Brittany and Santana started rocking back and forth, a small laugh escaped her lips.

"Oh, look! Quinn is laughing!" Brittany teased.

"No, I'm not."

Brittany grinned mischievously at Quinn. "Well, you are now," she said, tickling Quinn in a way only a best friend could.

* * *

"Mmm, this is pretty good steak," Brittany mused.

Santana laughed. "What can I say? You're a natural."

Quinn snorted from her position on the couch. "Please."

Brittany shot Quinn a death glare from the kitchen table.

Quinn shrugged and continued watching TV.

Santana slid her hand across the table and gave Brittany's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I think this steak is spectacular," she whispered.

Brittany giggled and playfully tapped Santana's nose. "I owe it all to an amazing teacher."

"Oh, Jesus," Quinn groaned.

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Stop eavesdropping, Quinn."

"Disappearing right now," she said as she got up from the couch and headed to her room.

"Thanks for coming back early for me!" Brittany called after Quinn.

Quinn grunted and entered her room.

When the door closed, Brittany quickly flicked her eyes back to Santana. "Well?"

Santana looked back at her curiously. "Well?"

"Now that we have the living room back to ourselves, we could pick up where we left off…"

"What?" Santana squeaked.

Brittany laughed. "I'm just kidding, Santana," she said, rubbing Santana's arm.

"Oh."

"C'mon, let's watch some TV," she said as she clutched both of Santana's hands and pulled her up from her chair.

"Alright."

"You're not too sophisticated for TV, are you?"

Santana snorted. "Are you kidding? I can't live without it."

Brittany laughed. "Well, you _are_ a _painter_ , after all," she joked. Internally, though, she was glad to learn that Santana was as much of a girl next door figuratively as she was literally.

They plopped down onto the couch, and Brittany flicked through the channels. They sat an awkward distance apart, but neither of them knew how to close the space between them without being totally obvious about it.

Finally, Brittany landed on a channel she was satisfied with, and she placed the remote down.

"This movie is so painful to watch," Santana groaned.

Brittany gasped. "No, it's not!" she exclaimed, watching Allie and Noah drifting in a pond full of ducks.

Santana winced. "Is it really possible to fall in love in only one summer's time?"

Brittany shrugged. "I don't know, but don't you believe in it?"

"What?"

"Love. Soulmates."

Santana pondered the question for a moment, gazing at Brittany with pursed lips. "I didn't," she finally replied. "Do you?"

Brittany cocked her head. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I do."

Santana grinned. "Of course you're a sucker for these things."

"Hey! I'm sure one day you'll fall head over heels in love, and then you'll know."

Santana stared down at her hands. "Maybe," she said with a small smile.

Brittany watched as Santana gazed down at her hands. Tentatively, she placed her hand over Santana's and smiled when Santana looked up at her with curious eyes.

Santana smiled back and slipped her fingers through Brittany's. Then she scooted over to Brittany and laid her head on Brittany's shoulder. Brittany responded by laying her head on top of Santana's.

"San?" she whispered.

"Mmhmm?"

"You're, like, the most awesome neighbor ever."

Santana laughed. "You, too, Britt-Britt. You, too."

* * *

Santana slowly peeled open her eyes. Sunlight filled the apartment. The television was off, and a blanket was draped over her and Brittany's body. Brittany was sound asleep; Santana could hear her steady breathing. They were holding hands still, their free hand on each other's thigh. Snuggling closer to Brittany's warm body, Santana smiled to herself and closed her eyes again. She wouldn't mind staying in this position for a bit longer.

* * *

Brittany shifted slightly. The morning's warmth and light finally pulled her from her slumber. She blinked several times, adjusting to the light. When she saw Santana's body still curled into hers, she relaxed against the couch again. They must have fallen asleep talking and watching TV late into the night.

She had never seen Santana from this perspective before. With Santana's head just inches away, resting on her shoulder, Brittany could see every perfect detail on her face. She could see the light bounce off of Santana's tan skin, the subtle movements of Santana's facial muscles, those long alluring eyelashes, that dainty nose, those full lips…

Feeling Brittany shift, Santana's body moved in response just the slightest bit. Then, she took in a deep breath, and, when she exhaled, her eyes flickered open, gazing lazily into Brittany's eyes.

…those velvety chocolate eyes that Brittany could forever drown into and never hit the bottom.

Brittany lifted her thumb to Santana's cheek and brushed lightly, finding it even smoother and softer than it appeared.

Santana smiled gently at the action, silent, wordless.

Brittany slowly dragged her thumb across Santana's cheek to her bottom lip. It was even softer.

Now, if only she could feel those lips on her own…

Brittany leaned in, then, bit by bit. As she closed the last inch of distance between them, time felt distorted, slow, heavy.

When their lips finally touched, it was softer, gentler, and more perfect than either of them could ever imagine. The kiss lasted only a second. As soon as their lips met, Brittany pulled back again.

"Hi," Santana breathed.

Instead of answering, Brittany pushed her lips into Santana's again, and, this time, she kissed her long and hard. Santana responded enthusiastically—unsurprisingly, she was an excellent kisser.

Finally, they pulled apart for air, their lips red and swollen. "Hi," Brittany panted.


	9. The Painting

Santana grinned. "Good morning to you, too."

Brittany laughed. "I'm sorry. I just really needed to do that."

"Don't be sorry. If anything, I should be thanking you."

Brittany raised her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"Mmhmm," Santana answered, a slight smile on her lips. "You kiss really well," she added quietly as her hand slid higher up Brittany's thigh.

Brittany grinned. "You're not too bad yourself."

"Why, thank you, Brittany."

Brittany giggled and lightly pinched Santana's nose.

Santana wrinkled her nose in response and nuzzled Brittany's neck. Just as she was about to leave a gentle kiss there, her stomach growled.

Brittany giggled again. "Sounds like someone's hungry."

Santana pulled away from Brittany and sat upright. "That was embarrassing," she mumbled, blushing.

Brittany smiled. What she liked even more than sexy Santana was cute Santana. Reaching over, she grabbed Santana's hand and pulled Santana back to her. Then she left a quick peck just on the corner of Santana's mouth and stood up. "I'm going to make you breakfast," Brittany declared.

Santana furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

Brittany nodded.

"Do you even know how to turn on the stove?"

Brittany rolled her eyes. "Of course."

"Since when?"

Brittany looked away guiltily. "Yesterday."

Santana laughed.

"What do you want to eat?" Brittany asked, looking back at Santana again.

Santana tilted her head and squinted her eyes in thought. "Surprise me," she finally said.

* * *

"Um…"

Brittany glanced up at Santana apologetically. "You don't have to eat them if you don't want to."

Santana gazed down at the burnt, irregular-shaped pancakes on her plate. "No, I do."

Brittany brought a small piece of pancake to her mouth. After chewing for a few seconds, her eyes widened in surprise. "Not bad," she said.

Santana smiled. "Just curious—what is this supposed to be?"

"It's a smiley face, silly."

Santana raised her eyebrows. "Oh."

Brittany winced. "I thought it'd be cute since you made me smiley face pancakes, but is it too corny? Ugh, I hate corny. I'm sorry I'm making you go through this. Just ignore my attempted smiley—"

"Stop talking, Brittany."

Brittany closed her mouth. "Okay."

When Santana took a bite of the pancake, her eyes lit up. "Wow," she said slowly, "for the way this looks, it tastes really, really good."

Brittany squirmed shyly in her seat. "Really?"

"Uh huh."

"Thanks."

Under the table, Santana playfully tapped Brittany's leg with her foot. "Of course."

Brittany smiled. "You're too cute."

Santana rolled her eyes. "You just want to make me blush."

"Are you?" Brittany asked, smirking.

Santana stared down at her hands. "Maybe."

Brittany snickered.

Santana flicked her eyes back up to look at Brittany. "I don't like you."

"You like me."

"No."

"Yes."

"Maybe just a little."

Brittany laughed.

"Where's Quinn, anyway?" Santana suddenly asked.

Brittany shrugged. "Probably working out like crazy to keep in shape."

"I would have never guessed she was that type."

Brittany looked at Santana seriously with wide eyes. "She is."

"Well, the hard work clearly pays off," Santana said, nodding in approval.

Brittany grunted as she jabbed aggressively at her pancakes.

Santana flinched before a mischievous smirk graced her face. She nudged Brittany's arm. "Are you jealous?"

Brittany snorted. "Of course not."

"Hmm."

Brittany looked at Santana. "What?"

"Nothing," Santana said innocently. After a moment of silence, Santana decided to play with Brittany a little. "You know, Quinn's quite pretty."

"Uh huh," Brittany said disinterestedly.

"I bet she gets hit on a lot."

"Mmhmm."

"But she probably turns a lot of people down."

"Maybe."

"I wonder if she has a type."

"Probably."

"Do you know what her type is?"

Brittany firmly placed her fork down and cleared her throat before looking up at Santana. "Not gorgeous dark-haired Latinas with irresistible eyes and annoyingly charming smiles."

Santana looked back at Brittany amusedly. "You're sexy when you're jealous," Santana said, running her foot up and down Brittany's calf.

"Hmph."

"Can I take you somewhere?" Santana asked all of a sudden.

"Hm?"

"There's a place I'd like to take you to."

"Is that place your bed? Because I'm not that easy."

Santana laughed. "No. Besides, I already got you in my bed."

"That is true," Brittany said, nodding. "So where are you taking me?"

"Well, you just have to wait and find out."

* * *

"Wow," Brittany whispered, "this is beautiful."

Santana grinned. "Isn't it?" she asked, looking all around her at the thick green grass, the endlessly tall trees, the lake that shimmered in the sunlight, and much, much more.

Brittany splayed her body on the grass and closed her eyes. "Mmmm." She breathed in the overwhelming scent of nature and felt the sunlight beat her skin.

Santana gazed at the beautiful sight before her, speechless. "Brittany…"

Brittany opened one eye. "Hm?"

"D-don't move." Santana quickly shuffled over to her backpack and tipped it upside down, pouring out paintbrushes and tubes after tubes of paint.

"Wow, aren't you prepared.'"

Santana smiled sheepishly. "I never come here empty-handed." She moved a little closer to Brittany, then sat down cross-legged with a sketchbook in her lap. "I didn't bring a canvas, so this sketchbook will have to do."

"Can I move now?"

"Of course not."

"Why not?"

"Because…I can't paint that fast?"

"Wait, what?"

"What?"

"You're painting me?"

"Don't get your hopes up—I've never painted a person before. You might look like crap."

"Oh."

Santana had already begun her work as the conversation took place, knowing that the painting would take quite a while to complete.

And it did.

Brittany and Santana talked for hours as Santana painted, learning so much about each other but still not enough.

Finally, Santana heaved a huge sigh. "I think I'm done, Britt."

Brittany smiled, super excited to see the end product. "So I can move?"

Santana nodded. "Yeah."

Brittany quickly clambered over to Santana's side, eager to see the painting, but Santana shielded the sketchbook from Brittany's eyes. Brittany frowned. "What are you doing, Santana?"

"I, uh, I'm kind of self-conscious about it."

"Why?"

"It's just weird showing you a painting I did of you."

"Huh."

"Maybe I'll show you some other time."

Brittany huffed. "Santana," she whined.

"Brittany," Santana said firmly, "please."

"Alright," Brittany sighed.

Santana began tossing her paints and brushes back into her bag as Brittany tried to sneak a look at the painting.

"Brittany," Santana warned, her back still to Brittany as she packed.

Brittany gasped. "How did you know?"

Santana turned around, flashing Brittany a smug smile, before returning to packing.

"Now, don't get too full of yourself," Brittany said, crawling up to Santana and snaking her hands around her waist.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll stop doing this," Brittany murmured, trailing kisses all along Santana's neck.

Santana sighed. "I thought you weren't that easy," she managed to say.

"Shut up, Santana."

"Brittany?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I…" Santana cleared her throat. "I had a lot of fun today."

Brittany smiled against her neck. "I did, too." Then she bit down gently on Santana's earlobe.

Santana whimpered before pulling away from Brittany. "We should probably go now," she said.

Brittany sat back, confused. "Um, okay."

"Quinn's probably worried about you."

Brittany chuckled. "You're right. She can be such a mom sometimes."

Santana stood up first. She smiled down at Brittany and offered her hand. Brittany gladly accepted, and Santana pulled her up. Still holding hands, they walked back to Santana's car.


	10. The Tradition

"Can we do this again soon?" Brittany murmured against Santana's lips.

Santana smiled, her lips brushing against Brittany's. "What? Make out?"

"I mean, this whole weekend."

Santana leaned back into her seat. "Yeah," she said quietly as she nodded, "of course."

Brittany smirked. "And making out, too."

"You just can't get enough, can you?" Santana teased, already inching her face toward Brittany's again.

"No," Brittany whimpered, feeling Santana's soft lips on hers.

Santana kissed her again and again, finally ending with several short, gentle kisses. "Britt," she mumbled, pulling away, "let's go."

"San," Brittany whined, holding onto Santana's arms.

Santana left a final slow and drawn-out kiss on her lips. "C'mon."

"Fine."

They hopped out of Santana's car, and, holding hands, walked into their apartment building.

"Hey, Brad," Santana called to their doorman, flashing him a quick smile. Brittany glanced over and smiled as well.

He grinned back. "Hey, girls." When he noticed their intertwined fingers, he tilted his head in confusion. In all his years working there and of all the people he witnessed Santana bringing home (which was a _lot_ of people), never had he seen Santana holding hands with anyone.

Well, on second thought, there was one person.

* * *

After they stepped into the elevator, they both reached out to hit the button for their floor. Anticipating the hand collision, they both jerked back at the same time. Santana chuckled. "When are we going to learn to do that right?"

"Now," Brittany said firmly, grabbing Santana's finger and pushing it into the button.

Santana shrugged. "Okay, that works."

They stood in silence for the next few seconds until Santana spoke up again.

"About what you said earlier…"

Brittany blinked. "What did I say earlier?"

"You said you wanted to do this again soon."

Brittany smiled, remembering. "Oh, yeah."

"Well, I was thinking…we could do something new every weekend."

Brittany's eyes lit up. "Like an adventure?"

"Uh, sure. Like a tradition."

"Hmm…" Brittany looked at Santana from the side with squinted eyes. "I like the way you think, Santana Lopez."

* * *

**Week 1**

"I love rollercoasters!"

Santana backed away from Brittany a little. "I got that the first time you yelled it, Britt."

"Well, I do."

Santana grinned. "You do strike me as a rollercoaster type of a girl."

"Are you?"

"Of course. Why else would I go on that ride with you?"

"I don't know. You just don't seem like you're all that happy."

"I'm just not as…excited as you, Brittany."

Brittany shrugged, satisfied with the answer.

Santana smiled to herself. She didn't really know what it was. It was just so…easy being with Brittany. "Where to next?" she asked, slipping her hand into Brittany's again.

"Hmmm." Brittany looked around. Then looked at the map in her hands. Then looked up again, her eyes searching when she suddenly gasped.

"What?" Santana asked.

Brittany turned to Santana with wide eyes. "Cotton candy!" With that, she dragged Santana over to the stand.

"Do you like cotton candy?" she asked Santana.

Santana shrugged. "I'm impartial to sweets."

"What? You're crazy."

They paid the cotton candy man and walked away as Brittany happily munched on the pink fluffiness.

Brittany tore a piece off and dangled it in front of Santana's face, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "You know you want it."

Santana rolled her eyes and ate the cotton candy, nibbling Brittany's fingers in the process.

Giggling, Brittany squealed and backed away from Santana, who grabbed her by the waist while she was still within arm's length. Then Santana pulled Brittany back to her and gave her a searing kiss.

Brittany's giggles abruptly stopped as she melted into the kiss.

Yeah, traditions were pretty awesome.

* * *

**Week 2**

Santana screamed when Brittany splashed water on her face. "Brittany! Stop!"

Brittany jutted out her tongue and did it again.

"Brittany!" Santana chased after Brittany, but it was difficult with the weight of the water—not to mention her feet were sinking into the sand every step she took. "Puck! I need some backup here," Santana said.

Brittany turned around. "Hey! No fair!" Before she could get another word out, Puck had already grabbed her and lifted her up, carrying her back to Santana as Brittany flailed her arms with all her might. "Quinn!" Brittany screamed. "Help me!"

Quinn waded into the water and gave Puck one of her warning smiles. "Put her down, Puck," she said gently.

"But-but," Puck started to say.

"Puck."

Puck frowned, glanced at Santana apologetically, and placed Brittany back on her feet.

Santana's jaw almost dropped. "Tell me that did not just happen."

Puck shrugged. "Sorry, Santana."

"Jesus, Puck, you're so effing whipped."

Before Santana could reprimand Puck any further, she felt another splash of water hit her back. She spun around, fully prepared to chase after a fleeing Brittany but was not prepared at all for a giant kiss on her lips.

As they kissed, Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana's waist and flattened her bare stomach against Santana's. Santana knew they were in cool water, and it wasn't particularly sunny at the beach that day, but was it getting a little hot in here?

It was probably due to the fact that although Santana and Brittany had spent the night with each other more than once, all they did was sleep. Literally sleep. And there was also the fact that Santana had stopped sleeping around once she started hanging out with Brittany more, and three weeks of no sex to Santana was like three months of no sex to anyone else.

"Get a room!" Puck called.

Santana mentally glared at him but knew he was right. She didn't exactly want the whole beach to witness her getting it on with Brittany. Reluctantly, she pulled away from the kiss.

Brittany's eyes were sort of hazy, and she licked at her lips hungrily. It didn't really help with Santana's self-control.

So thank God Quinn interrupted with a challenge to a sand castle competition. That distracted Brittany long enough that Santana didn't have to stare at those lust-filled eyes and perfect, pink lips that made her all weak in the knees.

* * *

**Week 3**

"Who knew you were such a romantic?"

Santana playfully glared at Brittany. "I'm not."

Brittany stared at the endless sky above her and watched every one of the stars twinkle. "You brought me here to look at stars, Santana. I'm pretty sure that makes you a romantic," she said with a contented sigh.

"Well, since you've decided that I'm a romantic already," Santana started to say as she plucked a flower out from the bed of grass they were lying on, "here you go." She held the flower up to Brittany's face.

Brittany sniffed it and took it in her hands. "Aww, I like this side of you," she said, nuzzling her nose up against Santana's.

Santana wrinkled her nose.

Brittany pulled back from Santana's face and stared seriously into her eyes. "Thanks," she whispered. "I can't remember the last time I got flowers from anyone."

Santana just nodded. Then she leaned in and kissed Brittany as gently as she knew how.

* * *

"I had a lot of fun tonight."

Brittany smiled. "Me, too."

Santana glanced down at her feet nervously. "Actually, I have a lot of fun all the time." She looked up at Brittany. "Whenever I'm with you."

Brittany's eyes softened. "Me, too," she said quietly. She bent down, about to kiss Santana, when Santana placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

"Brittany, will you be my girlfriend?"

Brittany frowned, and Santana panicked for just a second. "Was I not your girlfriend before?"

"Well, I mean, we never really talked about it, so I wasn't sure if we were, like, official or not 'cause, you know, some people aren't really into the whole exclusive thing, and-"

Brittany kissed her before Santana could ramble on anymore.

When Brittany broke away from the kiss, Santana's eyes were still closed. Slowly, they opened again, and when Brittany was sure Santana was back on Earth, she smiled at her and said one word. "Yes."


	11. The Doorman

All the nervousness dissipated from Santana's rapidly beating heart. She grabbed Brittany's face and pressed their lips together. What was intended to be a caring kiss quickly filled with hunger and desire. When Brittany moaned into Santana's lips, it only encouraged Santana more.

Santana had tried to be the perfect gentleman throughout these weeks, but knowing that Brittany was just as invested in this blossoming relationship sparked a need within Santana. As they kissed, she slowly dragged her hands from Brittany's face and cupped Brittany's breasts over her shirt.

Brittany gasped in delight but broke away from the kiss. "Not here, Santana," she panted.

Santana glanced at her door, just a few feet away. "My place?" Her voice was even raspier than usual.

Brittany gulped and nodded. Could Santana's voice get any sexier?

Santana smirked as she gripped Brittany's waist and pushed her toward the door.

As she stumbled backward, Brittany leaned forward to kiss Santana again and again until, finally, her back slammed against the door.

With one hand cupping Brittany's face as Santana continued kissing her like there was no tomorrow, Santana slid her key in the lock with her other hand and opened it with ease. Clearly, she had quite a bit of practice.

The two of them staggered clumsily inside and plopped onto Santana's couch, Santana falling on top of Brittany. At that point, Santana took a moment to break from all the kissing and panting and moaning. She gazed at Brittany, all flustered underneath her, and grinned.

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

Brittany raised one of her eyebrows. "Santana, this really isn't the time to be sensitive," she hissed as she tried to pull Santana's lips back to hers.

Santana complied and kissed her, but only softly. She pulled back again. "What I meant was, you're not tired, are you?"

"No." Brittany's dark eyes bore into Santana's, and it made Santana chuckle a little to see Brittany so eager.

"Good, 'cause we're going to be up all night."

Brittany smirked and flipped their positions so she was straddling Santana. "Yeah we are."

* * *

A faint, greyish light was seeping through the clouds when Santana and Brittany lay in Santana's bed, breathing heavily with silly smiles on their faces.

"God, Brittany," Santana whispered as she snuggled her head into Brittany's neck.

Brittany chuckled. "The same to you, Santana."

Santana lifted her body a little and kissed Brittany's cheek. "Can I just say that was some of the best sex I've ever had? And there's a _lot_ of it I'm comparing that to."

Brittany nodded, a dazed look on her face. "Yeah, it was, like, really good on the couch, and then it got even better in the kitchen, and then this here was just, wow."

Santana smiled. "I try."

"We really didn't get any sleep."

"Nope."

"You are such a bad influence."

Santana smirked. "You have no idea."

Brittany turned to face Santana and kissed her hard. "If you're a bad influence, then I want to be bad all the time," she whispered into Santana's lips.

Santana's quick brain failed her this time. Instead of coming back with a witty response, she grunted. Yes, grunted.

Brittany giggled. "I have to pee," she announced as she slid from the bed.

Once Brittany was out of the room, Santana smacked her forehead against her pillow. _Did I really just grunt? Really, Santana?_

* * *

"Don't go," Santana begged as she pulled on Brittany's sleeve.

"San…" Brittany looked down at her with kind eyes. "I don't want to be late to an interview with my possibly future boss."

Santana pouted. "Fine."

Brittany kissed her one last time. "Walk me back?"

Santana nodded.

Linking arms, they walked the short distance together, giggling and laughing through every second of it. Once they reached the door, they rang the doorbell and stared goofily into each other's eyes as they waited.

"What's so funny?"

The two of them broke from their trance and looked at Quinn, who stood at the now open door. "Hi, Quinn," Brittany said with a wide smile.

"Hi, Brittany."

Santana waved. "Hey, Quinn," she said in an uncharacteristically chirpy tone.

"Nice to see you again, Santana."

Quinn looked at the two girls suspiciously. "So, I assume you had fun last night, Brittany?"

Brittany nodded.

"I hope you aren't too tired for your interview today."

"Of course not." Some people might find it annoying, but, deep inside, it always warmed Brittany's heart to see Quinn act like her mom when her real mom was in another state.

"Good. You should probably get more sleep next time you have something important to do."

Santana snickered quietly. It didn't go unnoticed by Quinn.

Brittany shrugged. "I had enough."

"Really?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrows.

Brittany nudged Santana. "I did, didn't I?" she asked Santana.

Santana nodded. "Yep."

"I see," Quinn said dryly, crossing her arms. "Well, I guess it must have been someone else screaming Santana's name all night long." Smirking, she turned around and walked back inside the apartment, leaving Brittany and Santana blushing furiously at the door.

* * *

"So, how was your interview?" Santana asked.

Brittany stared at her fingernails absentmindedly. "It was really good, actually. I think he liked me."

Santana smiled into the phone. "And that may be for a reason having absolutely nothing to do with work."

"Santana…"

"Hey, I'm just saying. You're hot, and people notice it."

"Well, thanks."

"Uh huh."

"So…isn't it kind of silly that we're talking on the phone?"

"No, of course not."

"We're, like, literally a wall away from each other." Brittany thumped on her wall to prove her point. "You hear that?"

"Yes, I hear it," Santana sighed. "But doesn't talking on the phone make you feel more like we're dating?"

Brittany giggled. "You're adorable."

"Hmph."

"Anyway, they said they'll call back soon if they have a position to offer me, so fingers crossed."

"I'm sure you'll get it."

"Ehh."

"Since your boss is a guy."

"Santana!"

"I'm just kidding with you. In all seriousness, if you do get the job, I will wake up early, sacrifice my beauty sleep, and give you a good luck hug before you go to work."

"But what will you do without your beauty sleep?" Brittany asked in mock concern.

"Hey, you wouldn't have such a hot piece of ass as your girlfriend if it weren't for the beauty sleep."

Brittany chuckled. "I know, I know. Alright, I need some beauty sleep now, too. I'm going jogging tomorrow morning with Quinn."

"Aha. The workout maniac."

"Good night, Santana. Don't stay up too late."

"Good night, Brittany. Sleep well." Santana waited until Brittany hung up before hanging up herself and snuggling into her blanket. Then, she knocked on the wall. "Brittany?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I miss you already!" she yelled.

"Miss you, too, San!" Brittany called back.

Santana closed her eyes, a satisfied smile on her face.

Not far away, Brittany was doing the exact same thing.

* * *

"Told you you would get the job."

Brittany bowed her head. "I will never doubt the all-knowing Santana ever again."

Santana laughed. "Shut up. Now go before you're late." She pulled Brittany into a hug and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks for waking up early."

Santana yawned. "Anything for you."

Brittany laughed. "You're going to go back to bed now, aren't you?"

"Of course not," Santana lied.

"Okay, see you tonight then."

"Yep."

Brittany bit her lip before turning around to leave the apartment building.

Suddenly, Santana reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling Brittany back inside.

"What?" Brittany asked.

"Are you nervous?"

"God, yes," Brittany replied, relieved that Santana noticed.

Santana chuckled. "You don't have to be. Everyone loves you." Then, she reached up and kissed Brittany as gently as she could.

"Thanks, Santana," Brittany whispered.

Santana nodded. "Have fun."

Brittany smiled and left.

Santana watched her go. Brittany looked pretty good in suits, she had to admit. Brittany looked pretty good hailing a cab, too. Actually, Brittany looked good doing anything, really.

As Santana drowned deeper into her Brittany thoughts, Brad the doorman interrupted with a cough.

Santana turned around.

Brad smirked at her. "You have a thing for blondes, don't you?"

* * *

Santana glanced at the clock. It was 5:30 P.M. It was probably Brittany at the door. She jumped off the couch and rushed to the door.

Sure enough, Brittany stood there with a big smile on her face. "Work was awesome!" she exclaimed.

Santana grinned. "Tell me all about it."

"I'm going to go change first, okay?"

Santana nodded. "I'll come with you."

"Okay."

Santana followed Brittany into her apartment. She lay on Brittany's bed as Brittany stripped out of her work clothes and changed into something comfier. "So, everyone's super nice, and I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I get a paycheck, so yay."

Santana smiled. "Cool." As much as she cared about Brittany's first day at work, her mind was much more preoccupied with how sexy Brittany looked in a suit. Quietly, she crept up to the now half naked Brittany and kissed her shoulder.

Brittany giggled. "I can't change with you kissing me everywhere."

"Then don't change," Santana mumbled.

"Mmmm," Brittany moaned, relaxing into Santana's body behind her.

"You had a long day at work, right, Britt?"

"Mmmhmm."

"So let me make you feel better."

"Okay," Brittany whimpered.

* * *

"Well, that was nice," Brittany said.

"Uh huh."

"I'm hungry now."

Santana laughed. "Me, too."

"Where is Quinn? I want my dinner."

"Probably with Puck. They're, like, inseparable now," Santana said with a roll of her eyes.

"I think it's cute."

"I know."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Brittany shot up in bed. "I bet it's Quinn."

Santana sat up too, wrapping the blanket around her naked body as she did so. "Dinner?" she asked eagerly.

Brittany nodded.

Without even bothering to put on some clothes, the two of them rushed out of the room, hugging the blankets around their body.

As they made their way to the door, Santana pulled at Brittany's blanket playfully, causing Brittany to giggle and jump away.

Still giggling, Brittany opened the door as Santana caught up, about to play with her some more when she noticed Brittany's body freeze.

Curiously, Santana looked up, and, instead of Quinn, found herself staring at an older couple with gentle blue eyes and soft blonde hair.


	12. The Parents

"Mom! Dad!" Brittany exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.

"Brittany…," her mom started to say as she darted her eyes from Santana to Brittany confusedly.

Brittany's father on the other hand, much to Brittany's displeasure, was sort of checking Santana out.

"Dad!" Brittany said, trying to bring his attention back up to eye-level.

He quickly flicked his eyes up. "Yes?" he said in his low voice.

"Mom and Dad, this is Santana." Brittany gestured at Santana with her hand and gave Santana a small smile. "Santana, these are my parents."

Santana smiled as normally as she could given the situation. "Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce. I would totally shake your hands right now if I weren't holding up this blanket."

Brittany laughed awkwardly as she took in her mom's furrowed eyebrows and her dad's less than appropriate grin.

"Pleasure to meet you, too, Santana," Brittany's dad said.

Brittany's mom still seemed skeptical. "You never told us about this Santana, Brittany."

"Well, you never asked!" Brittany explained half-jokingly and half-seriously with a huge smile on her face.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them.

Brittany prayed for something to happen because _anything_ would have been better than this.

After several more moments of glancing warily at each other, much to Brittany's delight, something happened. The elevator pinged and out stepped Quinn with a bag of groceries.

"Rob! Julie!" Quinn's eyes lit up in surprise as soon as she saw Brittany's parents, and she rushed over to give each of them a big hug, ignoring Santana and Brittany's presence completely.

Finally, her eyes landed on the two barely clothed girls at the door. Something in Quinn's eyes twinkled, and Brittany could practically hear her smile through her words. "Well, this is awkward," Quinn stated.

Once she turned back to face Brittany's parents, she was full-on charming again. "Come in! You haven't even seen our place yet."

Brittany's parents followed Quinn inside as Santana and Brittany shuffled to the side to allow them room.

"So," Santana said after a moment of silence, "are these your parents or Quinn's parents?"

* * *

After Brittany's parents settled in, the five of them sat at the dinner table with Quinn's perfectly prepared meal.

Brittany and Santana had clothes on now, which Brittany was frankly quite thankful for since it made her dad stop staring. Brittany loved her goofball of a dad, but sometimes he believed he was ten years younger than he actually was. Her mom was the complete opposite. She had always been the strict one, but Brittany knew that her mom was just watching out for her.

As Quinn chatted with her parents about Lima, Brittany glanced over at Santana and held her hand under the table. Then she leaned over and whispered, "Sorry I didn't tell them."

Santana just squeezed Brittany's hand reassuringly. "It's okay—I can charm anyone's pants off," she whispered back. She glanced at Brittany's dad worriedly before adding, "Figuratively, I mean."

Brittany giggled. "Just keep in mind that they're from Lima, Ohio, not New York City."

Santana nodded.

As if right on cue, Quinn ended her chat with Rob and Julie. The parents turned to Brittany and Santana expectantly.

Santana smiled. "Sorry, but I just have to say this. I am so glad I got the chance to meet you. Brittany talks about you all the time," she said to Rob and Julie.

Rob grinned. "Really?"

Santana nodded. "Can I just say that you are even funnier than Brittany described?" she said to Rob with a small giggle.

Rob laughed and waved his hand nonchalantly even though that comment actually made his ego swell too much for his own good.

Brittany rolled her eyes. It was practically her dad's ultimate goal in life to be considered funny. Santana really knew what she was doing.

"And Mrs. Pierce," Santana beamed, "Brittany looks just like you."

Julie gave her a tight-lipped smile. Brittany watched on worriedly. Her mom was not that easy to win over.

Santana, however, seemed unfazed. She took a sip of wine before adding, "If I saw you walking down the street, I would've thought you were her twin sister." Then, of course, came the signature Santana wink.

That was enough to get Julie to giggle and blush.

Brittany's jaw almost dropped as she witnessed the miracle unfolding before her eyes.

Santana flicked her eyes over to Brittany and smiled mischievously when she noticed Brittany's bewilderment. She rubbed her calf against Brittany's under the table, shifted a little closer to the girl, and whispered, "And that's how you charm someone's pants off."

Right away, Brittany coughed to hopefully hide how hot she was feeling.

That only earned her questioning stares from Quinn and her parents.

"Not helping, Santana," she whispered back.

Santana smirked. "Who said I was trying to help?" she murmured.

When Santana was sure that Brittany's parents were busy with their food, she let her lips graze Brittany's ear as she said, "And tonight, I'm going to charm _your_ pants off. Literally."

Brittany felt her cheeks redden and quickly dug into her food even as Santana's foot ran higher and higher up her leg.

* * *

As dinner ended, Brittany knew it was finally time to address her relationship with Santana to her parents. She was fairly certain they had already guessed, but she still had to say it.

After they made their way over to the couch to just relax and have some wine, Brittany cleared her throat.

Everyone turned to her, and she stood up.

"Mom, Dad, thanks for dropping by. I had a lot of fun catching up with you guys." She smiled, and they smiled back. "Quinn, dinner was awesome." Quinn nodded.

"And Santana…" When Brittany looked at her, a smile tugged at her lips without her even trying.

Santana pushed a lock of hair behind her ear shyly when she saw that smile—that smile that expressed so many emotions neither of them could even fathom to explain.

Brittany clasped Santana's hand and pulled her up so they were standing next to each other. "Mom and Dad, you are the wisest people I know, and you always told me to find someone who makes me happy." She gazed at Santana as she said her last words. "Well, I did."

Rob smiled the widest. He wasn't the most open-minded man, but anything that made his darling daughter happy made him ecstatic. "So, let me get this straight. You two are dating, right?"

Brittany laughed. "Yes, Daddy, yes, we are."

"Well, Brittany, I never expected this, but I'm glad you're happy." Julie wasn't exactly smiling like Rob, but Brittany was okay with that. She knew it would take some time for her mom to get used to this.

"Thanks, Mom," she said with a small smile.

When Julie gave her the subtlest of smiles back, Brittany knew they had her blessing.

* * *

Santana usually wasn't one for feelings, but even she could feel her heart swell at that moment. Maybe it was because she never shared this special connection with her parents, but witnessing it was good enough for her.

She was glad Brittany got to experience it, though, because Brittany… Santana smiled to herself just thinking of that name. Brittany, full of hope and happiness and everything Santana wasn't. Brittany, full of light and warmth and rainbows: light that cleared up Santana's stormy sky, warmth that dried up Santana's rain, and rainbows that turned even the last droplets of that rain into something beautiful.

Santana tiptoed and placed a chaste kiss on Brittany's cheek.


	13. The Past

"Thanks, San."

Santana tore her gaze from the television to look into Brittany's eyes. "For what?"

Brittany shrugged. "For, you know, what you did with my parents."

"What did I do with your parents?" Santana asked with a smirk.

"You were nice to them."

Santana shook her head. "Nuh-uh."

"Fine," Brittany said with a sigh.

Santana shifted from her position on the couch so she was facing Brittany completely and crossed her arms with a smug grin on her face. "Mmhmm?"

"You charmed—" Brittany paused to roll her eyes. "You charmed their pants off," she finished reluctantly.

"That's right," Santana said with a nod of approval as she resumed cuddling with Brittany again. "And who else's pants did I charm off?"

"Shut up, Santana."

Santana retracted her arm from around Brittany's shoulders. "Admit it or no post-coital cuddling."

"Saaan," Brittany whined.

"I stand by my words."

Brittany plopped her forehead onto Santana's shoulder and mumbled, "My pants."

Santana tilted her head in consideration for a moment then shrugged. "Good enough," she reasoned as she casually wrapped an arm around Brittany again.

"I miss my parents already," Brittany sighed.

"I thought they would've stayed a night or two."

"Too bad they have to visit my sister."

"Oh, well. More time for us."

"You don't know how to share, do you?" Brittany teased.

Chuckling, Santana said, "Of course I do." She leaned down to drop a kiss on Brittany's forehead, where she let her lips linger as she murmured, "I just don't know how to share you."

Brittany ducked her head to hide her shy smile from Santana. "Ha, that's cute," she said.

Santana laughed. "I can't help it. I'm just constantly charming people's pants off."

Even Brittany snickered this time. "Santana, you have to stop saying that."

"But it's true."

"Stop."

"Make me," Santana said with a playful grin.

"Now you're just making it too easy," Brittany whispered as she leaned in and kissed Santana's waiting lips.

Suddenly, Brittany broke from the kiss and got up.

Santana frowned at the hand Brittany offered her but held it anyway.

"Stop being such a couch potato," Brittany said as she pulled Santana up.

"What are we doing?" Santana asked.

"We're going out for a little fresh air." Brittany dragged the unwilling Santana to the balcony door and practically pushed her out into the windy night.

Santana instinctively wrapped her arms around herself. "It's chilly."

Brittany smiled. "And that's what I'm here for," she said as she hugged Santana from behind.

They swayed a little as they stared up into the starry sky.

"Hmm," Santana sighed. "As much as I love this, why are we here?"

"Do you need a reason for everything, Santana Lopez?"

"Uh, no?" she tried.

Brittany laughed. "It's okay. You can say yes."

"So what's the reason?"

"Remember when you took me out to look at stars?"

"Uh huh."

"That was the night you asked me to be your girlfriend."

"I know," Santana said, smiling as she remembered that special night.

"Well, it meant a lot to me to tell my parents about us and everything."

Santana rubbed Brittany's arms, willing her to explain further.

"So I wanted to take you out to look at stars like you did for me."

Santana leaned her head back to kiss Brittany's cheek but Brittany turned her head and captured Santana's lips with her own into a long, long kiss.

When Brittany pulled away, her eyes melted into sapphire puddles of pure adoration. "And I want you to be looking at these stars when I tell you that…I love you." Brittany took a deep breath. "I love you, Santana."

Santana's grip on Brittany's arms tightened.

Stillness settled over them, only interrupted by the wind whipping at their hair.

"You don't have to say it back," Brittany whispered. "I just wanted you to know."

There was still no response from Santana. Rather than thinking of something to say back, Santana's mind drifted to the last time she had said those three words. It was also the night she had her heart broken.

* * *

_**Four years ago**_

_The night was coming to an end. The first rays of sunlight had snuck through the blinds, landing on a pool of tangled blankets and two cuddling bodies._

" _I love you."_

_"I love you, too, Santana."_

_"I'm so glad we waited."_

_"I know."_

_Santana chuckled. "Kind of a cliché, don't you think? That we saved ourselves for the night of senior prom?"_

_"I think it's romantic."_

_Santana smiled as she ran her fingers through soft, blonde hair._

_"I wasn't about to tell you this now, but I'm just going to say it. I got into Stanford."_

_Santana flinched. "You never told me you applied to Stanford."_

_"I didn't think I was going to get in."_

" _But you're not going, right?"_

" _Santana, I can't just pass on this opportunity."_

_Santana felt a sting of pain at her nose. "But we already decided that we would go to college here. We even got an apartment."_

_"I'm sorry."_

_"We're going to be okay, right?"_

_"Santana…"_

_"Four years isn't that long. We'll be fine. We'll talk on the phone, we'll visit each other…"_

_"I love you so much, Santana, but one of us is just going to get hurt if we drag this on any longer."_

_"What are you saying?"_

_"I want to stay friends. You know I'll always love you and care for you."_

_Santana got up and picked up her clothes. "If you did, you wouldn't be doing this."_

* * *

"The stars are so pretty," Brittany started to say, albeit a little heartbroken by Santana's lack of a response. "Too bad they go away during the day."

"They don't go away, you know," Santana said quietly.

"Hm?"

"These stars. They don't go away during the day. The sun is just so bright that you can't see them, but they're always there."

"Oh."

"Brittany?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too." Santana brought Brittany's hand up to her lips and kissed it. "And I always will," she added under her breath.

* * *

She was in love. She was in Brittany's arms. She was under the endless, shimmering sky. Everything was perfect.

Too perfect.

All of a sudden, the Santana who wasn't in love was back again for just a moment—cold, hard, broken. Maybe she had drowned too deep, she thought, fallen too hard. She wasn't in a fairy tale. People don't fall for their neighbors and live happily ever after.

They don't, do they?


	14. The Blond

Santana never thought she would say this, but the sex was different. Sure, sex with different people always _felt_ different, but it was essentially the same thing. And sure, sex with Brittany was special; there was no denying that. There was the cuddling afterward, the giggling, the looks they gave each other that no one else in the world could decipher… And of course it was good. Actually, it was _great_ —but it wasn't like Santana never had great sex before.

That night, though, the sex was different.

Brittany had held her hand and led her inside, turning around to smile at Santana with every other step she took as if just to make sure Santana knew she was smiling. They walked past the couch, the dining table, the kitchen counter, and all the other places where Brittany normally would haven taken her because they physically wouldn't have been able to stand another second of not ravishing each other.

Instead, hand in hand, they patiently made their way to Santana's room. When they were finally standing next to the bed, Brittany slowly ran her free hand down Santana's arm, her fingers ghosting over impossibly smooth skin, until she clutched onto Santana's other hand.

She looked up at Santana, tilted her head, and smiled. Santana smiled back, her brown eyes soft and warm as the tiniest crinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes. They were the most adorable things Brittany had ever seen.

Brittany lifted Santana's hands up to her lips. She kissed the back of one hand, then the other. Gently, she sat Santana down on the edge of the bed before she bent over and barely brushed her lips against Santana's. Santana instinctively leaned into Brittany, but Brittany only pulled back further. Again, Brittany edged closer and grazed Santana's lips with her own. Then she placed her forehead on Santana's and gazed into those wavering eyes as she brought her thumb up to feel Santana's lips.

Closing her eyes, Brittany cupped Santana's face in her hands and just stayed still for a moment. Finally, she took in a deep breath through her nose and pushed her lips into Santana's.

For those lingering seconds, everything was just Santana. Santana's fresh yet slightly sweet scent rushed into Brittany's nose. She felt Santana's soft cheeks warming her hands. She listened to Santana's even breathing that steadied the rhythm of her own rapidly beating heart. Most of all, she tasted Santana. She tasted her like she had never before as their tongues rolled smoothly against each other, firm but gentle, suppressed yet out of control.

They were still kissing when Brittany moved to straddle Santana. Santana's hands immediately roamed down Brittany's back and settled at her waist. Santana's lips made a similar path downward as she left a trail of kisses from the corner of Brittany's mouth to her jaw and finally to her neck, now exposed thanks to Brittany having thrown her head back in pleasure earlier.

Santana nibbled and licked and sucked as Brittany ground down on her desperately. The more Santana flicked her tongue, the heavier Brittany's limbs felt. It reached a point at which Brittany simply let her entire body go limp as she focused solely on the way Santana made her feel—her heart thumping loudly against her ribcage, the anticipation making her stomach feel strangely but deliciously hollow, every fiber of her body humming all the way down to the slow burning between her legs.

Santana reached one hand out to lift Brittany's head up and push it toward herself. Forehead to forehead, she watched Brittany pant for a moment, her tongue heavy and her throat dry. Brittany's hair was a mess, her forehead beaded with sweat. And she was perfect.

Santana squinted her eyes shut and kissed Brittany again. And again. And again. She kissed her until she was sure their lips would bruise. Only then did she pull back, though reluctantly.

She clutched onto the hem of Brittany's shirt with both her hands and paused. She had taken off Brittany's shirt countless times, but it felt so invasive this time around, and she didn't know why. She lifted the shirt just a bit and stopped again. Then, she took a deep breath and slowly peeled off Brittany's shirt the rest of the way with as much care and caution that Brittany deserved.

Brittany unclasped her bra herself and let it drop to the ground. Santana paused to admire Brittany's lean and toned body for the thousandth time because no matter how many times she had seen it, Brittany's body still baffled her. She broke from her trance when Brittany slid closer to her, unable to wait any longer. Right away, she buried her face into Brittany's chest, kissing her everywhere as her hands traced each and every hard muscle on Brittany's stomach.

When Santana's lips finally reached Brittany's breasts, she let her lips graze Brittany's nipples, which already began to harden. Brittany dug her nails into Santana's neck, needing more, wanting more. Santana seemed to understand since she covered Brittany's nipple with her lips, nibbled, and sucked. She took Brittany's other nipple between her thumb and index finger, rubbing and tugging, harder and harder each time.

She snaked her other hand downward to Brittany's shorts and fumbled with the button and zipper. Without needing to be asked, Brittany lifted her hips, and Santana swiftly tugged off her shorts and panties. When Brittany sat back down on her lap, Santana instantly felt that slippery wetness on her thighs, especially since Brittany was grinding her mound down hard. Santana grunted and slipped her fingers into Brittany's folds, brushing lightly up and down.

Brittany jerked at the contact before her head dropped to Santana's shoulder. She whimpered and began moving against Santana's hand. Santana turned her head toward Brittany's and kissed her hard as she swiped some of Brittany's juices up to her clit and massaged it with just enough pressure to get Brittany squirming and squeezing her eyes shut in pleasure.

As Brittany's pants got louder and as her breaths hit Santana's neck harder, Santana dragged her fingers down to Brittany's entrance, rubbing for a second before sliding two fingers inside with ease.

Brittany gasped and clenched around Santana's fingers, making Santana groan in response. Before Santana even started to move her fingers, Brittany had already clutched onto Santana's shoulders with both hands and began to slowly pump her hips up and down.

Santana couldn't take her eyes off Brittany. Brittany was staring right back at her, biting her lip and bouncing up and down, faster and faster. Santana's mouth hung open as she witnessed one of the sexiest things she had ever seen. When she finally realized she was just sitting there doing nothing, she quickly swiped her thumb across Brittany's clit, causing Brittany to squeak and thrust even harder.

Between Santana's rubbing firm circles on her clit and Brittany's having found just the right angle to ride Santana's hand, Brittany knew she would come anytime now. Just then, Santana turned to kiss her cheek before whispering, "I love you," and Brittany's whole body stilled. Powerful waves erupted through her as Santana pumped her fingers slowly and gently massaged Brittany's clit to prolong that feeling of absolute bliss as much as she could.

At last, Brittany let her body fall forward and collapse into Santana's strong arms. "Love you, too," she mumbled into Santana's neck.

Santana swept the blonde hair out of Brittany's flushed face and kissed her. "I know."

* * *

"Brittany, can you hand me the remote, please?"

Brittany rolled her eyes at getting interrupted while she was buttoning up her white shirt. "Really, Santana?"

"Please, Britt-Britt?" she tried with her best puppy face.

Brittany frowned, but padded over to the television anyway, picked up the remote, and jabbed it in Santana's hands. As she turned to walk back to the mirror, Santana grabbed her wrist.

"Britt, wait."

Brittany turned back to look at Santana, who had a cheeky smile on. "What?"

Santana pulled Brittany closer and stared at her open shirt. "You look so hot in your work clothes."

Brittany looked down at Santana's lust-filled eyes and laughed. "Thanks."

Santana snuggled her face into Brittany's abs.

"Santana…"

"Hm?" Santana murmured as she stuck her tongue out and flicked at Brittany's belly button.

"I'm going to be late, Santana…"

"Mmhmm." Santana didn't stop.

Brittany ran her fingers through Santana's dark hair before she pushed Santana away.

Santana frowned. No one ever passed on sexy times with Santana Lopez.

As if she could read Santana's mind, Brittany quickly said, "Not that I don't enjoy sexy times with you, but I really have to go." She finished buttoning up her shirt and tucked it into her skirt.

Santana sighed and lay back down on the couch. "Fine," she said as she flipped through the channels disinterestedly.

Brittany kneeled down so that she was face to face with Santana. "You know I'll be thinking about you the whole day at work, right?" She kissed Santana once.

Santana continued staring at the television.

She kissed Santana again. "Don't be like that, baby," she pleaded.

A slight grin crossed Santana's face this time. "We never use pet names."

"Because you think they're stupid."

"They are."

Brittany smiled at Santana's stubbornness. "We're going to have so much fun tonight," she whispered, brushing her nose against Santana's. She kissed Santana one last time and got up. She glanced at the clock, winced, and sped out the door.

"Love you!" Santana called after her.

Brittany stuck her head back through the gap of the door. "Love you, too," she said with a huge smile. Then she blew Santana a kiss and slammed the door shut.

Santana chuckled. She could get used to all this loving.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hi, Brittany," Santana chirped.

Brittany smiled at the warm voice. "Hey," she said, swiveling in her desk chair.

"How's work?"

Brittany glanced around. "Fine. I'm just waiting for someone to pack and leave, so I don't have to be the first one."

"Were you late today?"

"Uh huh."

"Did you get in trouble with your boss?"

"Well, not really. He just kind of laughed at me when I stumbled into the morning meeting like a crazy person."

"That's embarrassing."

"Shut up. It's all your fault."

Santana chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm going to make up for it soon."

"You better."

"Hmm, how about now?"

At that moment, a single pink daisy appeared in front of Brittany's eyes. Brittany quickly looked up and saw Santana with a bright smile on her face and her phone at her ear. "Why are you here, Santana?"

Santana dropped her phone into her pocket. "To pick you up from work," she said with a shrug.

Brittany smiled in spite of herself and plucked the flower from Santana's hand. "And you're giving me this flower because…?"

Santana widened her eyes. "You forgot?" she asked a little loudly.

Several people were staring at them now.

"Of course not," Brittany said as she glanced around uneasily. _What anniversary is it? First date? First kiss? Oh, God, there are so many._ "It's because…"

Santana shook her head disappointedly. "Read the note."

Brittany opened the tiny card attached to the flower and began to read out loud. "Just because…it's Monday."

With that, Santana leaned in and planted a big kiss on Brittany's lips.

A collective "awww" came from the girls in the office who witnessed the exchange as they swooned in unison. The guys smiled and reminded themselves to do something like this for their girlfriends soon.

Brittany was blushing when the kiss ended. She quickly began to pack her things as Santana watched her, the amusement evident in Santana's brown eyes.

When she was done, she looked up at the smirking Santana and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"Fine what?" Santana asked.

"Fine, you're the most awesome girlfriend anyone could ask for."

Santana chuckled. "Why, thank you."

Brittany smiled. "Thank _you_."

"Anytime."

Brittany linked arms with Santana and led her to the elevator. Santana quickly hit the button before Brittany could do anything, and they looked at each other for a second before cracking up at their inside joke. As they waited for the elevator, they heard footsteps coming their way. Brittany glanced up and smiled. "And this is the guy I work for," she said to Santana.

Santana looked up as well. The man was wearing a dark grey pinstripe suit. He was quite tall…and he had a headful of soft, blonde hair.


	15. The Rain

"Santana?"

Santana felt her heart speed up, and she unknowingly clenched her jaw. "Sam…"

Brittany flicked her eyes between the two of them quizzically. "You two know each other?"

Sam nodded slowly, his eyes still glued to Santana. "H-how are you?"

"I'm fine," she replied, looking down at the ground. She didn't know what it was. She was supposed to hate this man, wasn't she? But she didn't. Too much time had passed. All the anger had faded over these four years.

Sam approached her, but Santana backed away. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Finally, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Santana looked up at Brittany nervously, who was still as confused as ever. "I came to pick Brittany up."

"Oh."

"What are you doing here?" Santana looked up at Sam now. His eyes were still so green. His face barely changed, only now his hair was shorter and gelled back modestly. Without the suit or the hair, he would have looked just like the jock he used to be.

"I work here."

"You know I didn't mean that. What are you doing here in New York?"

"I came back—"

"Mr. Evans!" a loud voice called urgently.

Sam spun around to find his secretary rushing up to him with some papers. She started explaining something in extreme detail when the elevator arrived.

Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and dragged her inside. Brittany followed without a word, not knowing what to say to the strange situation that just took place.

As the doors closed, Santana glanced up and caught Sam's eye one last time, recognizing the look he gave her. They did date all through high school after all.

It was apologetic.

"What was that?" Brittany asked once the elevator began to descend. Even she didn't miss the tension in the room.

Santana shook her head dismissively. "We went to high school together."

"Santana—"

Santana placed a gentle hand on Brittany's shoulder and gazed at her with tired eyes. "Please, Brittany."

Brittany nodded. She knew Santana was a person who kept mostly to herself, and she knew when not to push for more.

She would tell her when she was ready, Brittany decided.

* * *

Brittany leaned her head against the window, watching sprinkles of water cling to the cool glass and listening to the light splattering of rain. She couldn't decide if she hated rain or not. On the one hand, it meant she couldn't leave the house, and she loved being outside. On the other hand, it meant she got to stay in and just relax.

Santana was in the kitchen, cooking them lunch. They had woken up not too long ago, so this was really their breakfast. Oh, how Brittany loved weekends.

But the weekend felt somewhat wasted with their simply staying in. They always did something special on weekends. It was their tradition, as Santana called it. Brittany heaved another sigh as she stared at the misty grey sky outside. "San?"

"Yeah?" Santana called from the kitchen.

Brittany blew her hot breath on the window and watched the air condense. "It's raining."

"I know."

Brittany gazed longingly at the trees outside that now glistened with the raindrops hanging off their leaves. "Have you ever kissed in the rain?"

"Uh, actually, no, I haven't."

"Me neither," Brittany mused as she traced shapes on the patch of fog she had created. She blinked several times before she suddenly jolted up in her seat. Then she jumped out of her chair and ran into the kitchen.

"Oh, my God," Santana exclaimed, her hand on her chest, when Brittany was suddenly right next to her.

Brittany forcefully grabbed Santana's hand and pulled her away from the stove.

"What are you doing, Britt?" Santana yelled.

"We're going outside."

"But I'm making bacon! _Bacon_ , Brittany."

"I know what bacon is," Brittany replied with a roll of her eyes.

Santana gasped. What was happening to the world? A mere offhand comment was all Brittany could muster for her beloved bacon? "And you _love_ bacon, Brittany," Santana tried again, still refusing to be dragged away.

Brittany spun around, turned off the stove, and looked at Santana. "Not as much as I love you. C'mon now," she said as she tugged on Santana's hand again.

Santana followed Brittany to the balcony unsurely. "Why are we going outside?"

"To kiss in the rain," Brittany replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"But we're going to get all wet!"

"I think that's what kissing in the rain means, Santana."

"But, but—"

Brittany twirled around and planted a hard kiss on Santana's lips. "Shut up, Santana. We'll shower afterward."

Santana grinned at the last comment. "Okay, then."

Brittany snorted. "Jeez, Santana. Is that all you care about?"

"Sort of," Santana said with a shrug.

"You're such a boy."

"Hey!"

Before Santana could further protest, Brittany had already pulled open the sliding glass door and stepped outside. Immediately, she opened her arms and tilted her head back, letting the rain hit her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips were curled into a big smile.

Maybe it was the familiarity of the situation or maybe it was Brittany, but Santana smiled—a quiet, little-things-in-life kind of smile (not that smiles make any noise, but, if they did, this would be a quiet one).

As if drawn by an invisible force, Santana stepped out onto the balcony. The rain instantly wetted her pajamas, which stuck onto her skin, making her cold and wet and feel so damn adventurous.

Without thinking twice, Brittany stuck her tongue out to catch the falling rain and giggled when it tickled. The pitter-patter of the rain covered the sounds of Santana's footsteps, and, before Brittany knew it, warm arms encircled her from behind.

Silently, Santana kissed Brittany's wet neck, then her jaw, her ear, her cheek…

Brittany turned around slowly and ran her hands through Santana's thick hair. They stared at each other for a second before they broke into laughter, the sight of the other dripping water being too much to handle.

The rain was the loudest thing and the quietest thing. It blocked out all the noise of the traffic from the streets downstairs yet the sounds of their laughter was louder than ever, echoing off the liquid walls that enveloped them into their own little world.

Actually, maybe it wasn't the rain. Maybe it was just them. They were always in their own little world when they were together.

Brittany's laughter died down as she watched Santana laugh, loving how her eyes twinkled and how her cute little nose scrunched up. When Brittany finally caught her breath, she reached out and wiped the hair from Santana's face.

Santana stopped laughing too at Brittany's touch. She swallowed and looked up at Brittany. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if Brittany weren't this much taller than her. It just wouldn't be right. When Brittany's hand brushed her cheek, Santana placed her own hand over it and held it in place. Then she tiptoed and pressed a long, gentle kiss into Brittany's lips.

Their lips finally parted with a soft plop. Santana returned to her normal height and grinned. "And now you've kissed in the rain."

Brittany laughed and nodded. "Now how about that shower?" she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Santana simply smirked, letting Brittany clutch onto her hand and lead her inside.


	16. The Guest

"I thought we were showering."

"Baths are good, too," Santana sighed, her eyes closed and her lips curled into a gentle smile.

Brittany chuckled as she kneaded more shampoo into Santana's hair.

"Mmmm," Santana moaned, letting her body relax into Brittany's soft arms.

"You like that?" Brittany asked jokingly.

Santana turned her head around and kissed Brittany. "Yes," she murmured against Brittany's lips before she resumed her normal position, settling into Brittany's body again. The bubbly bathwater went right up to Santana's neck, warming her already hot body, and Brittany's front pressed firmly against her back was not helping. Even so, it was a nice kind of warmth—a kind of warmth Santana didn't feel often. As relaxing as baths were, Santana rarely took them because they were such a hassle. Living alone had reduced her life to quick showers, microwaves, paper plates, and you know the rest.

She had only started using real plates on a regular basis recently with Brittany coming over for dinner more often than not these days. Yeah, it was more work, but she liked it. It made her home feel like a real home, you know?

Brittany had finished shampooing Santana's hair a while ago, but she massaged it a bit more, seeing how much Santana enjoyed it if her moans were any indication. "Pass me the showerhead, San."

Half consciously, Santana picked the showerhead up and stuck it over her shoulder for Brittany to take. Once it left her hands, Santana wordlessly loosened up into Brittany's embrace again, ready for more of Brittany's heavenly hands.

Brittany smiled to herself as she ran the water through Santana's hair. See, if there were one person in the relationship who looked after the other one more, it would probably be Santana. It was just part of Santana's nature, and, fine, Brittany's overly carefree attitude contributed to that as well. But, at this moment, Santana looked so small in Brittany's arms, her soft smile so vulnerable. Frankly, Brittany liked it. She loved being taken care of, but she always wanted to return the favor as well—she just didn't get that many chances to.

She finished rinsing off Santana's hair and turned off the water with her foot. Then she placed the showerhead down and wrapped her arms around Santana, sprinkling her shoulder with tiny kisses.

Santana leaned further into Brittany's arms and let out a deep breath. "Brittany?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Sam and I dated all through high school."

Brittany stopped her kisses and laid her cheek on Santana's shoulder, ready to listen. "Oh."

Santana slowly opened her eyes and turned toward Brittany's face. "He was my first…well, everything really," she said with a rueful smile. "We planned to live together, go to college together, you know."

Brittany reached for Santana's hand under the water and held on tight. "And then what happened?" Brittany asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"He left. Until that day in your office, I hadn't seen him since the night of senior prom."

"I'm glad you told me."

"Me, too," she said, nodding. She was still smiling, but the sparkle in her eyes was gone.

* * *

"Puckerman, what are you doing here?" Santana groaned. Her hair was a mess, and she could barely see through her heavy-lidded eyes.

"Just let me in," he said, pushing past Santana and thudding into the apartment.

"Quiet down!" Santana hissed. "Brittany's sleeping."

Puck smirked. "Where is she?"

"In my room."

"Good. That means the guest room is free, right?"

Santana narrowed her eyes. "Why are you here at four in the morning, and what do you want?"

"You know those stupid college boys who live next door to me?"

"Uh huh," Santana said, crossing her arms.

"They were partying it up again. I've had enough of their shit."

"Fine, you can stay in the guest room tonight." Santana turned around to walk back to her room when Puck stopped her.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could stay here for a while?"

"What?" Santana almost yelled, facing Puck again.

"I sort of called up my apartment's renter and told him I was never coming back."

"Oh, my God, I'm going to kill you, Puck," Santana seethed.

Before Santana could attack him, her door creaked open and a half-asleep Brittany poked her head out. "What's going on, San?" she mumbled.

Santana glanced over. "It's nothing, baby. Go back to bed."

Brittany simply nodded and disappeared again.

Puck grinned at Santana smugly.

"What?" Santana asked.

"Did you just call her 'baby'?"

Santana looked away, inwardly cursing herself for letting that slip in front of Puck. "No."

"You called her 'baby.'"

"Ugh."

"Oh, man, I'm going to make fun of you for so long, you have no idea."

"Do you want the guest room or not?" Santana shot back at him. "If I let you stay here, you will never speak of this again, do you understand?"

Puck smirked. "Yes, ma'am."

"And you're paying me rent."

"Fine," Puck agreed, rolling his eyes.

Santana shot him one last dirty look before padding back into her bedroom and climbing into bed with Brittany.

* * *

The next morning, Brittany stumbled out of Santana's room in her usual sleepwear—a tank top and underwear—to get a cup of water. It was only when she was in the kitchen that she noticed the man sitting at the kitchen table staring at her bare legs.

Brittany screamed and quickly hid behind the refrigerator door. "What are you doing here, Puck?" she yelled.

Puck scooped another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "Good morning to you, too, Brittany."

Brittany stared back, horrified.

"I live here now," he said with a chuckle.

At that moment, Santana also left her room and approached them. "What is all this screaming?" she grumbled. When she noticed Brittany and her long, bare legs, she sighed. "You didn't let Puck get an eyeful of that, did you, Britt?"

Brittany turned to Santana with a frown when she noticed that Santana was wearing just as little clothing as she was. "Santana! Why aren't you wearing any pants if you knew Puck was here?"

"Puck has seen me in way less," Santana said with a chuckle. Then she grabbed a small blanket from the couch and tossed it at Brittany. "Go wear some clothes before Puck's eyes pop out of their sockets," she said, ending the sentence with a glare at Puck.

After Brittany bolted back into the bedroom, Santana sat down with Puck and poured herself a bowl of cereal as well. "How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully."

Santana grunted in acknowledgement as she dug into her breakfast.

In a minute, Brittany returned—with sweatpants on this time. In her hands, though, was another pair of sweatpants, which she thrust at Santana.

Santana raised an eyebrow at her. "Um?"

"Wear these," Brittany demanded.

"Why?"

"Because Puck's here."

"I told you, Britt, he sees me like this all the time. I mean, he's seen me naked—"

"Stop!" Brittany said, closing her eyes in disgust. "I don't want to know that."

All the while, Puck watched the conversation unfold before him with a broad smile on his face. It was going to be more amusing than he thought to live here.

"I don't want Puck checking you out," Brittany added.

Rolling her eyes, Santana said, "Puck's seen me enough to not check me out anymore."

"Actually," Puck started to say but immediately shut up when both Brittany and Santana sent him death glares.

Santana sighed and took the pants from Brittany's hands. "Fine," she finally relented, pulling on the pants and taking a seat again.

Brittany glanced at the best friends uneasily before bending down to plant a chaste kiss on Santana's lips. "I'm going back now. I have to get ready for work."

"Alright, I'll see you tonight," Santana said.

Santana watched as Brittany walked out the door, wondering how Brittany made sweatpants, probably the least sexy thing in the world, look so damn hot.

Puck didn't miss Santana's wandering eyes. With a snort, he said, "So it's okay for you to leer, but I can't?"


End file.
